[Madelung disease: CT and MRI findings].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the CT and MRI manifestations of Madelung disease.

METHODS

The CT and MRI manifestations of 12 cases of Madelung disease were analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTS

The CT and MRI manifestations: cross-sectional CT showed that abnormally proliferated fat mainly deposited in anterior or posterior subcutaneous tissues of the neck, deep into the sternomastoid and trapezius muscles, situated in posterior cervical triangle, around the salivary glands, and excess fat was also found to be situated in supraclavicular fossa, around the paraspinal muscles and larynx, and so on. The abnormally proliferated fat can compress surrounding organs and tissues. The density of the abnormally proliferated fat was equal to that of normal fat. The MRI manifestations: the distribution of the thickened fat was equal to that seen with CT. The signal intensity of the thickened fat was equal to that of normal fat.

CONCLUSIONS

CT and MRI can accurately show distribution of the thickened fat, compression of surrounding organs and tissues and exclude soft tissue tumors. MRI seemed to be superior to CT.