Duan Fuhong, Qiu Shijun, Jiang Jianwei, Chang Jun, Liu Zhenyin, Lv Xiaofei, Feng Xia, Xiong Wei, An Jie, Chen Jing, Yang Weicong, Wen Chuhong
Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Acta Radiol. 2012 Dec 1;53(10):1146-54. doi: 10.1258/ar.2012.120433. Epub 2012 Sep 14.
Intracranial chondromas are rare benign tumors. To date, few data are available on their neuroradiological features.
To describe a series of patients with intracranial chondroma and to analyze and discuss the computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features that may distinguish chondromas from other intracranial neoplasms.
We retrospectively analyzed clinical and medical imaging data of six patients who had pathologically confirmed intracranial chondromas in our two institutions between July 2006 and September 2011. Both CT and MRI scanning were performed in all six cases.
Five tumors were located at the skull base and one originated from the falx. CT images revealed well-demarcated, irregular lobulated and variable density masses with obvious calcification (6/6), no or slight enhancement, without peritumoral edema, and frequently accompanied by erosion and destruction of surrounding bone (5/6). Tumor parenchyma appeared heterogeneously hypointense on T1WI, and hyperintense or mixed hyperintense and hypointense on T2WI, while the calcification appeared hypointense on T1WI and T2WI in five cases, demonstrating significant inhomogeneous enhancement on postcontrast MRI, which revealed the typical "punica granatum seeds" sign. Only one case showed homogeneous low signal intensity on T1WI and high signal intensity on T2WI, and relatively uniform obvious enhancement on postcontrast scans.
These characteristic CT and MR findings, combined with the location of the lesions and the history of a long duration of clinical symptoms, may prove helpful in differentiating intracranial chondromas from other more common tumors.
颅内软骨瘤是罕见的良性肿瘤。迄今为止，关于其神经放射学特征的数据很少。
描述一系列颅内软骨瘤患者，并分析和讨论可将软骨瘤与其他颅内肿瘤区分开来的计算机断层扫描（CT）和磁共振成像（MRI）特征。
我们回顾性分析了2006年7月至2011年9月期间在我们两家机构中6例经病理证实为颅内软骨瘤患者的临床和医学影像数据。所有6例患者均进行了CT和MRI扫描。
5个肿瘤位于颅底，1个起源于大脑镰。CT图像显示边界清晰、不规则分叶且密度各异的肿块，伴有明显钙化（6/6），无强化或轻度强化，无瘤周水肿，且常伴有周围骨质侵蚀和破坏（5/6）。肿瘤实质在T1WI上呈不均匀低信号，在T2WI上呈高信号或高信号与低信号混合，5例钙化在T1WI和T2WI上均呈低信号，增强MRI显示明显不均匀强化，呈现典型的“石榴籽”征。仅1例在T1WI上呈均匀低信号，在T2WI上呈高信号，增强扫描后相对均匀明显强化。
这些特征性的CT和MR表现，结合病变部位及临床症状持续时间较长的病史，可能有助于将颅内软骨瘤与其他更常见的肿瘤区分开来。
