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ABSTRACT: Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a pathology primarily characterized by involvement of the muscles in the face, shoulder and upper arm, can be associated to several CNS disorders, including sensorineural hearing deficits, schizophrenia, epilepsy and mental retardation. Aim of our study was to verify if brain tissue volumes, as measured by segmentation of MRI studies, are altered in FSHD. Volumes of gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were compared, taking into account head size age and sex, both globally (by multiple regression analysis) and regionally (by optimized voxel-based morphometry-VBM) in thirty patients with FSHD and 39 normal subjects (NS). FSHD patients had significantly lower GM volumes and higher CSF volumes (P < 10(-4)). GM loss showed a borderline correlation with clinical severity (P < 0.05). Brain tissue volumes did not correlate with disease duration, size of the genetic deletion, age at onset and the presence at MRI of WM hyperintensities (detected in 4/22 patients). At VBM three clusters of GM loss were detected, in the left precentral cortex (Brodmann areas 6, 2 and 44, P < 10(-14) corrected for multiple comparisons at cluster level), in the anterior cingulate (Brodmann areas 33, 24 and 11, P < 10(-4)) and in the right fronto-polar region (Brodmann area 10, P < 5.10(-3)). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate a reduction in GM volume in FSHD. We hypothesize that localized GM loss in FSHD is the consequence of a selective involvement of specific CNS structures.
NeuroImage 10/2006; 32(3):1237-42. · 5.89 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Infiltrating lipoma is an uncommon mesenchymal neoplasm that characteristically infiltrates adjacent tissues and tends to recur after excision. This type of lipoma is extremely rare in the head and neck region. We report a case of a giant infiltrating lipoma of the face, studied with CT and MR imaging.
American Journal of Neuroradiology 03/2003; 24(2):283-6. · 2.93 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Small bowel metastases of lung cancer as unique secondary lesions are a very rare occurrence and may be clinically missed due to the aspecificity of the symptoms. Diagnosis is usually made at acute abdominal symptomatology that requires emergency surgical treatment. We report a case of 69-year-old woman, previously treated for epidermoid lung carcinoma, complaining only of aspecific asthenia; blood cell count and chemistry showed a moderate but progressive anemia; no signs of small bowel occlusion were present. The follow-up CT scan showed two large masses at the small bowel level, without any evidence of hepatic, lung, adrenal or brain metastases. MRI and small bowel enema confirmed the presence of the masses, and the diagnosis of small bowel metastases was hypothesized. Surgical specimens of the masses confirmed the radiological suspicion.
Tumori 88(1):68-71. · 0.86 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The authors report the results observed in apparently healthy young adults undergoing chest radiography for pre-employment screening.
Between July 1996 and December 1997, 2292 young adults underwent conventional chest radiography for pre-employment screening purposes. Of these, 378 subjects (16.4%) in whom the chest X-ray showed alterations indicative for pulmonary parenchymal lesions were selected for the study. The lesions were divided into four groups: 1) single nodular opacity (n=98/378=25.9%); 2) multiple nodular opacities (n=25/378=6.6%); 3) single or multiple parenchymal consolidation(s) (n=203/378= 53.7%); 4) interstitial disease ( %). All subjects received a tuberculin skin test. The subjects in groups 1, 2 and 3 underwent the diagnostic protocol, which consisted of tuberculin skin test (TST) and CT scan for groups 1 and 2, and a repeat chest radiograph at 30 days for group 3. The subjects in group 4 were studied by high-resolution CT (HRCT).
In group 1, CT showed nodular opacities with psammomatous calcifications in 13 cases, vascular dilatations in 3, calcified nodule in 7 subjects with positive TST, and uncalcified nodular lesions in 75 subjects (53/75 with positive TST). In group 2, FNAB confirmed the preliminary diagnosis of metastases in 2 cases; CT demonstrated the pleural origin of opacities in 1 patient, and multiple nodular lesions in 12 subjects; it invalidated the radiographic findings in 3 subjects, and demonstrated multiple nodules associated to increased interstitial thickening in 3 subjects. In group 3, the lung alterations had completely disappeared in 106 subjects, whereas in 97 subjects there was reduced extension of the previously observed lesions, but appearance of new sites of parenchymal consolidation. In group 4 CT confirmed the radiographic suspicion in 14 cases.
Tubercular infection is currently increasing in industrialised countries. In our study it showed a relatively high prevalence of about 4.5% in a young asymptomatic population.
La radiologia medica 104(5-6):404-11. · 1.44 Impact Factor
