Sphenoorbital meningiomas are insidious tumors with slow progression. Even when exophthalmos is not clinically evident, it is always present on preoperative MR imaging. Total resection is not possible due to superior orbital fissure invasion, but subtotal resection (Simpson Grade II) can assure long-term stability due to the nonevolutive nature of most residual tumors. Exophthalmos improves at early radiological follow-up, but may worsen again as time passes.
We report 2 patients who had clinical and neuroimaging signs of spontaneous intracranial hypotension and who developed cerebral sinus venous thrombosis. This sequence of events – known after dural puncture but not in spontaneous intracranial hypotension – was suggested by the change in the pattern of headache, from a postural to a permanent and increasing one. The diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties that this complication raises are discussed.
Our objective was to assess the value of delayed contrastenhanced T1-weighted spin-echo MR imaging in the detection of residual cholesteatoma in patients who have undergone canal wall-up tympanoplasty procedure. The MR imaging was obtained prior to revision surgery in 18 patients with opacity of the post-operative cavity at CT examination 12-18 months after canal wall-up tympanoplasty. In each patient the following was performed: precontrast T1-and T2-weighted images; and early and delayed contrast-enhanced axial and coronal T1-weighted imaging. Early and delayed MR imaging results were separately compared with surgical second-look findings. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were evaluated for early and delayed post-contrast MR imaging, compared with second-look surgery findings. A residual choleste-atoma was correctly identified in 8 of 9 cases with delayed contrastenhanced T1-weighted MR imaging. Mean sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and interobserver agreement (evaluated by kappa statistics) were, respectively, 85.2, 92.6, 92.6%, and kappa=0.78 for the delayed contrast-enhanced MR imaging technique. The same parameters were, respectively, 96.3, 33.3, 60.6, and 0.30 for the early contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MR images. We conclude that delayed contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MR imaging is reliable for the detection of residual cholesteatomas of the middle ear in patients who have undergone canal wall-up tympanoplasty.
Involvement of the posterior portions of the optic nerves has been described previously in case reports of patients with LHON. Our results support this observation with neuroimaging performed within 1 year of onset of visual loss. Enlargement of the optic chiasm also may occur in patients with LHON. The pathophysiology of the MRI changes is not yet understood.
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