MRI findings and demographics of elastofibroma dorsi: assessment of diffusion-weighted imaging and contrast enhancement patterns

Abstract

Background Elastofibroma dorsi is a rare pseudotumoral lesion. Thus, there is no report of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings that investigates multiple patients particularly with respect to diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) findings and contrast enhancement patterns. Purpose To describe the imaging findings of elastofibroma on MRI, particularly DWI findings and contrast enhancement patterns, and to further investigate patient demographics. Material and Methods Forty-four patients with elastofibroma that underwent MRI were enrolled in this retrospective study. All images were evaluated by two radiologists to visually assess the signal intensity for each sequence. Enhanced elastofibromas were classified into four categories to assess the enhancement pattern. Differences in gender and laterality were also assessed statistically. Results An equal number of men and women were included (n = 22 each). There was no significant difference in laterality ( P = 0.783). All lesions (73 lesions) had low signal intensity on both T1-weighted (T1W) and T2-weighted (T2W) images: heterogeneous in 56, homogeneous in 17. None of the 41 lesions with DWI had true abnormal diffusion restriction. The average ADC value was 1.36 × 10 ± 0.29 mm/s. All 31 lesions that had contrast-enhanced MRI were classified according to enhancement pattern: homogeneous (three lesions, 9.7%); heterogeneous (15 lesions, 48.4%); streak-like (three lesions, 9.7%); and rim-like (ten lesions, 32.2%). Conclusion There were no statistically significant differences in gender or laterality. Elastofibroma showed homogeneous to heterogeneous low signal intensity on T1W and T2W images. No lesion showed abnormal diffusion restriction, and all lesions demonstrated enhancement on MRI.

Prevalence of elastofibroma dorsi on CT: Is it really an uncommon entity?

“…In the literature, ED is thought to be more common on the right side, presumably because most individuals are right-hand dominant 15 . In our study, no significant difference was found in terms of the number of right-versus left-sided lesions, which is similar to the result of more recently published study 16 . We also found no significant relation between the mean lesion thickness and lesion side.…”

Elastofibroma dorsi: What’s new?

“…In T2FS or STIR the lesions show partial or regional high signal intensity due to a varying degree of layered fat streaks. 7 Underlying bone are intact and there is no evidence of chest wall infiltration. 5 Usually no peritumoral edema is present.…”

“…Generally elastofibromas are asymptomatic tumors. 6 The clinical symptoms of elastofibroma are palpable mass with swelling, discomfort, functional restriction, occasional pain, 7 clunking of the scapula on moving the shoulder. 8 …”

Soft-Tissue Tumor Reporting and Data System (St-Rads): Mri Reporting Guideline with Multi-Institutional Validation Study of Extremity Soft Tissue Tumors

“…Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is an emerging modality and is not universally used [9,23,46]. Apparent diffusion coe cient (ADC), if available during interpretation, can be used as a supplemental nding for the diagnosis [3,9,23,42,46,49].…”