Percutaneous aspiration of an intradural/extradural thoracic arachnoid cyst: use of MR imaging guidance.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M H Naheedy.
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Epidemiologic analysis of incidental macroadenoma is limited to autopsy studies and case series. There are no published data about prevalence of incidental pituitary macroadenoma in living patients. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of incidental pituitary macroadenoma. It was designed as an observational study of cranial computed tomography reports. An urban department of veterans affairs medical center was used for the setting. The subject group consisted of 3,550 consecutive patients at the Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center from January 1993 to January 1996. Patients with known or suspected pituitary or parasellar disease were excluded. Cranial computed tomography reports were reviewed. Original films and medical charts of all patients with pituitary macroadenoma were reviewed. Seven patients with incidentally discovered pituitary macroadenoma that ranged from 1 cm to 2.5 cm were found; prevalence was 0.20% (95% confidence interval 0.05, 0.35%). Evidence of partial hypopituitarism was found in most patients. All patients had normal visual fields at initial examination despite the size of the tumor, but 1 of 4 had a field cut demonstrated by Goldmann perimetry. These data confirm that, although the prevalence of incidental pituitary macroadenoma is low, screening identified patients to detect deficiency of corticotropin, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and gonadotropins and to detect visual field defects is important.
We describe an atypical neurologic presentation of Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) with striking meningeal and cerebral involvement, responding to immunosuppressive therapy. WG may cause treatable intracranial complications in the absence of nasal or renal disease and without cerebral angiographic abnormalities, CSF pleocytosis, or a positive assay for antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies.
Forty-three patients with computed tomographic scan findings of decreased attenuation in the periventricular white matter (PVWM) region were studied. Clinical evaluation revealed presence of hypertension in 36 patients (84%) and cerebrovascular risk factors in 41 patients (95%). Unilateral or bilateral neurological deficits were present in 40 patients (93%). Neuropsychological evaluation in 27 of them revealed features of subcortical dementia. Magnetic resonance imaging in seven cases demonstrated high-intensity areas in the deep white matter region on T2-weighted imaging. Pathological evaluation in four patients revealed demyelination without inflammatory cells and infarctions in the PVWM region, lacunar infarctions in the basal ganglia and brain stem, and marked arteriosclerosis. The study indicated that most (95% in this series) of the patients with computed tomographic scan findings of decreased attenuation in the PVWM region had cerebrovascular risk factors and various neurological and neuropsychological features of subcortical dementia. Pathologically, these lesions represented areas of infarction and demyelination, along with diffuse arteriosclerosis.
Anomalous branches of the cervical portion of the internal carotid artery are rare. Reports in which these anomalous branches are of any clinical importance are even more rare. We are reporting two cases in which the anomalous branch maintained patency of the cervical portion of the proximally occluded internal carotid artery. Both patients initially had hemispheric symptoms appropriate to the affected internal carotid artery. This article details angiographic methods to demonstrate the unusual anatomic and pathologic aspects of these cases and the successful operative approach.
We retrospectively studied 46 patients with symptomatic retinal artery occlusion and assessed the pattern and extent of carotid artery disease ipsilateral to the retinal artery occlusion. Ipsilateral internal carotid artery atherosclerotic lesions were virtually limited to the cervical arterial segment; 50% of such lesions were plaques or stenoses of less than or equal to 60%, whereas 15% of the angiograms were normal. No clinical features were significantly associated with a flow-limiting carotid stenosis of greater than 60%. Contrary to previous reports, the type of retinal artery occlusion, whether branch or central artery occlusion, was not predictive of severe underlying carotid stenosis or occlusion. Likely mechanisms of retinal artery occlusion include in situ thrombosis and emboli from carotid, and possibly cardiac, sources. Extension of thrombus from an occluded carotid artery into the ophthalmic artery did not appear to be a mechanism of retinal artery occlusion.
We retrospectively studied 90 patients with postinfarction seizures to determine the clinical features (onset, number, type), prognosis, and electroencephalographic and computed tomographic findings; we included infarctions of all etiologies. Thirty-three percent of the 90 seizures appeared early (within 2 weeks after the infarction), and 90% of the 30 early seizures appeared within 24 hours after the infarction. Seventy-three percent of the 90 seizures occurred within the first year, and only 2% occurred greater than 2 years after the infarction. Fifty-six percent of the 90 seizures were single, and status epilepticus was seen in only 8%. Early-onset seizures were more likely to be partial (57% of 30); late-onset seizures were more likely to be generalized (65% of 60). Thirty-nine percent of the 90 initial seizures recurred, and there was no significant difference in recurrence rate between early- or late-onset initial seizures. Twenty-two percent of the 90 initial seizures became multiple recurrent seizures, and we could identify a precipitating factor in 86% of the 35 recurrent seizures. The most common electroencephalographic abnormality in the 61 patients so examined was focal slowing (61%), but recurrent seizures occurred in 100% of the four patients with periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges and in 75% of the eight patients with diffuse slowing. Computed tomography in 61 patients showed that large infarctions were associated with early (p less than 0.021) and multiple (p less than 0.05) seizures. Deep infarctions on computed tomograms (cortical infarctions extending to subcortical structures) tended to cause recurrent seizures (p less than 0.057). Seizures in 88% of the 90 patients could be managed with monotherapy.
Discussion of the anatomy of the parasellar region focuses on the optic chiasm and its relationship to surrounding structures. CT and MRI are valuable tools in the imaging of these regions. This article provides a brief review of the technique of CT and MRI with visualized anatomic structures of these areas. A closer look at how CT and MRI are used to delineate the different pathologic processes of the sellar and parasellar regions then follows.
Localization and pathologic diagnosis of optic nerve tumors have been greatly improved by high resolution computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Radiologic differentiation of the most common tumors of the optic nerve (meningioma and glioma) can be made by using these new imaging modalities. Early diagnosis of optic nerve lesions has resulted in better prognosis and surgical outcome.
A 56-year-old man lived 8 years after excision and irradiation of a primary cerebral lymphoma. Delayed radiation necrosis caused progressive neurologic deterioration and probably his steroid-responsive episodes of obtundation. Vasogenic edema induced by radiation may account for the latter. An incidental extraneural lymphoma was found postmortem without evidence of CNS lymphoma.
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Computed tomographic (CT) scanning of the face and sinuses has improved markedly with modern equipment and methods. Expertise in facial and sinus anatomy as seen by CT is invaluable to the clinician. A review of normal CT anatomy is presented as a basis for diagnosing pathologic conditions.
A neonate with hypoxic damage to the brain from a complicated pregnancy and delivery demonstrated a prolonged retention of contrast medium in her cerebral dural veins and brain substance after cardiac catheterization. Myoclonic status epilepticus began during injection of the contrast medium and persisted until its clearance as noted by CT scan. A postmortem examination did not reveal any vascular or congenital abnormalities that would account for these effects.
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Orbital blow-out fractures were experimentally created in eight human cadavers. Each orbit underwent conventional radiographic studies, complex motion tomography, and computed tomographic examinations. A comparison of the three modalities was made. Anatomical correlation was obtained by dissecting the orbits. The significance of medial-wall fractures and enophthalmos is discussed. Limitation of inferior rectus muscle mobility is thought to be a result of muscle kinking associated with orbital fat-pad prolapse at the fracture site, rather than muscle incarceration. Blow-out fractures should be evaluated by computed tomographic computer reformations in the oblique sagittal plane.
Two patients with von Hippel--Lindau complex are described. Both had concomitant posterior fossa and supratentorial haemangioblastomas. The value of cerebral angiography is stressed in the demonstration of small nodules which are not immediately apparent on the computed tomogram.