Retardation of myelination due to dietary vitamin B12 deficiency: cranial MRI findings.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is known to be associated with signs of demyelination, usually in the spinal cord. Lack of vitamin B12 in the maternal diet during pregnancy has been shown to cause severe retardation of myelination in the nervous system. We report the case of a 14(1)/2-month-old child of strictly vegetarian parents who presented with severe psychomotor retardation.

Nontraumatic spinal epidural hematomas. MR features.

Purpose: Spinal epidural hematoma (SEH) is a rare clinical entity with a bleak outcome. The aim of our study was to establish the value of MR findings in the diagnosis of nontraumatic SEH.

Material And Methods: Seven patients with nontraumatic SEH were examined by MR at 1.

Preoperative embolization of paragangliomas and angiofibromas. Measurement of intratumoral arteriovenous shunts.

Objective: To determine if technetium Tc 99m-labeled macroaggregated albumin selective angioscintigraphy enables estimation of microparticle-arteriovenous shunt in branchial paragangliomas and nasopharyngeal angiofibromas.

Design: Technetium Tc 99m-labeled macroaggregated albumin particles with calibrated diameters between 25 and 50 microns were administered during selective catheterization of the feeding arteries in 4 branchial paragangliomas (glomus tumors) and 4 nasopharyngeal angiofibromas. Preliminary measures of the activity of the tumor region and of the lungs were obtained in the angiography suite using a hand-held detector.

[Spinal stenosis: current aspects of imaging diagnosis and therapy].

Lumbar spinal stenosis typically manifests itself through low back pain and neurogenic claudication during walking. Cervical spinal stenosis may manifest itself through a multitude of symptoms. Spinal stenosis is classified into congenital or primary and acquired or secondary forms.

[Neuroradiology--past and future].

After the discovery of X-rays by Roentgen exactly 100 years ago, neurosurgeons and neurologists have been promoting an imaging diagnosis of the central nervous system around the turn of the century with methods like pneumencephalography and angiography. With the induction of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the last two decades, seemingly simple examination methods became available which led to a temporary separation of neuroradiology from its parent fields. Further development of MRI with methods that allow to measure brain perfusion and to visualize brain function has led this diagnostic modality back to its origin, neurology: adequate evaluation of such multimodality imaging is only possible in the context of all neurosciences.

CT cisternography in congenital perilymphatic fistula of the inner ear.

Perilymphatic fistulas of the inner ear constitute abnormal leaks of perilymphatic fluid into the middle ear or mastoid air cell system and represent a rare cause of otorrhea. We report the case of a 5-month-old child presenting with sudden otorrhea. High resolution CT cisternography showed a malformation of the middle ear and a passage of contrast-enhanced CSF into the tympanic cavity through the left oval window.

Facial intraosseous arteriovenous malformations: CT and MR features.

Objective: To present the CT and MR findings of two patients with maxillofacial intraosseous arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) before and after endovascular therapy.

Materials And Methods: Two young girls suffering from AVMs in the maxilla and mandibula with spontaneous bleeding in the oral cavity were examined by CT and MR on a 1.5 T GE unit before and after selective endovascular embolization.

[Diagnostic tomodensitometry of acute basilar thrombosis].

Basilar artery thrombosis is a potentially treatable neurologic disease whose initial symptoms are sometimes difficult to recognize. The basilar artery is hyperdense on computed tomography in cases with basilar artery thrombosis. We have studied computed tomography attenuation values before and after contrast administration in a total population of 117 patients, 12 of whom were diagnosed angiographically as having basilar artery thrombosis.

Dural ectasia of the optic nerve sheath in neurofibromatosis type 1: CT and MR features.

Objective: Optic nerve glioma is a common finding in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1). Although dural ectasia of the optic nerve is encountered rarely, it has to be considered in the differential diagnosis.

Materials And Methods: Three patients affected by NF-1 were examined sequentially by CT and MRI.