Use of Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging in Differential Diagnosis Between Intracerebral Necrotic Tumors and Cerebral Abscesses

The differential diagnosis between intracerebral necrotic tumors and cerebral abscesses is frequently impossible with conventional MR imaging. We report two cases of cerebral abscesses that showed high signal on diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging and a strongly reduced apparent diffusion coeffic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of neuroradiology : AJNR 1999-08, Vol.20 (7), p.1252-1257
Main Authors: Desprechins, Brigitte, Stadnik, Tadeusz, Koerts, Guus, Shabana, Wael, Breucq, Catherine, Osteaux, Michel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial diseases of the nervous system. Bacterial myositis
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain - pathology
Brain Abscess - diagnosis
Brain Neoplasms - diagnosis
Diagnosis, Differential
Echo-Planar Imaging
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Necrosis
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Description
Summary:The differential diagnosis between intracerebral necrotic tumors and cerebral abscesses is frequently impossible with conventional MR imaging. We report two cases of cerebral abscesses that showed high signal on diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging and a strongly reduced apparent diffusion coefficient. This appearance was not present in our cases of necrotic/cystic gliomas (eight cases) and necrotic metastases (two cases). We believe that diffusion-weighted MR imaging may be a diagnostic clue in cases of cerebral "ring-enhancing" masses.
ISSN:0195-6108
1936-959X