Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Pediatr Radiol. 2011 Aug;41(8):1020-7. doi: 10.1007/s00247-011-2085-4. Epub 2011 Jun 4.
While reviewing chest CT scans of infants, we repeatedly observed hyperdense enhancing tissue in the chest wall that is not well described in radiology literature.
This study was undertaken to describe the imaging features of this tissue in chest walls of infants.
CT scans of the chest conducted on all infants between April 2008 and October 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. CT studies with any deviation from normal radiation or contrast dose or those with chest wall anatomical distortion were excluded.
One hundred eighty-eight infants were scanned, with 202 MDCTs, of which 180 (89.1%) received contrast agent. Fifty-four of 180 (30%) cases revealed focal areas of hyperdensity in various locations. All positive cases ranged between 2 days and 9 months of age. The areas of distribution of hyperdensity had excellent correlation with known areas of brown fat in the chest wall, known from nuclear medicine studies, and hence we concluded these to represent the same.
Brown fat in the chest wall can be seen as enhancing tissue on contrast CT scans done on infants. This is a normal morphological component with the brown fat converting to normal fat. It is important to recognize it in the chest wall of infants to avoid misinterpretation.
在对婴儿的胸部 CT 扫描进行复查时，我们反复观察到胸部的高密度增强组织，而这在放射学文献中并未得到很好的描述。
本研究旨在描述婴儿胸部这种组织的影像学特征。
回顾性分析 2008 年 4 月至 2009 年 10 月期间所有婴儿的胸部 CT 扫描。排除任何偏离正常辐射或对比剂量的 CT 研究，或存在胸部解剖结构扭曲的 CT 研究。
对 188 名婴儿进行了扫描，共进行了 202 次 MDCT 检查，其中 180 例（89.1%）接受了造影剂。在 180 例中有 54 例（30%）显示出不同部位的局灶性高密度区。所有阳性病例的年龄均在 2 天至 9 个月之间。高密度区的分布范围与核医学研究中已知的胸部棕色脂肪分布区域具有极好的相关性，因此我们推断这些区域代表了相同的组织。
婴儿对比增强 CT 扫描中可以看到胸部的棕色脂肪呈增强组织。这是一种正常的形态学成分，棕色脂肪会转化为正常脂肪。在婴儿的胸部识别它很重要，以免造成误解。
