Structured reporting has many advantages over conventional narrative reporting and has been advocated for standard usage by radiologic societies and literature. Traditional structured reports though are often not tailored to the appropriate clinical situation, are generic, and can be overly constraining. Contextual reporting is an alternative method of structured reporting that is specifically related to the disease or examination indication. Herein, we create a library of 50 contextual structured reports for neuroradiologists and emphasize their clinical value over noncontextual structured reporting. These templates are located in the On-line Appendix, and a downloadable PowerScribe 360 file may be accessed at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AlPUmfAXPzjkMFcHf7vGKF4Q-vIdpflT.

Aim To determine the relative incidence of benign and malignant paediatric parotid gland tumours and whether particular presenting symptoms or imaging characteristics were more likely to predict malignancy. Materials and methods Hospital records were reviewed for all patients <18 years with histopathology-proven parotid neoplasms over the 10 year period from 2003-2013. Infantile haemangiomas and patients with neurofibromatosis type I were excluded. The presenting clinical symptoms for each patient were recorded. All available CT and MRI examinations for these patients were evaluated for tumour imaging characteristics. Results Seventeen patients (nine boys, eight girls; age range 2-17 years) were identified with neoplastic parotid masses; 11 tumours were malignant (65%) and six were benign (35%). The malignant tumours consisted of three acinic cell carcinomas, two mucoepidermoid carcinomas, one alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, one poorly differentiated carcinoma, one low-grade adenocarcinoma, and three metastases (two melanoma, one orbital medulloepithelioma). The benign tumours consisted of five pleomorphic adenomas and one schwannoma. Presenting clinical symptoms were similar between benign and malignant tumours. Twelve MRI and six CT examinations were available for review with five patients undergoing both techniques. MRI features commonly identified with malignant tumours included: hypointense T2 signal, restricted diffusion, ill-defined borders, and focal necrosis. Only four of the six tumours imaged at CT were visualized, and of those, the margins were indeterminate in three patients. Conclusion Paediatric parotid masses are more likely to be malignant than benign. Presenting clinical symptoms and CT are not helpful for distinguishing benign and malignant disease. MRI features such as T2 hypointensity, restricted diffusion, ill-defined borders, and focal necrosis, although not specific, should raise concern for malignancy.

Aim

To determine the relative incidence of benign and malignant paediatric parotid gland tumours and whether particular presenting symptoms or imaging characteristics were more likely to predict malignancy.

Materials and methods

Hospital records were reviewed for all patients <18 years with histopathology-proven parotid neoplasms over the 10 year period from 2003-2013. Infantile haemangiomas and patients with neurofibromatosis type I were excluded. The presenting clinical symptoms for each patient were recorded. All available CT and MRI examinations for these patients were evaluated for tumour imaging characteristics.

Results

Seventeen patients (nine boys, eight girls; age range 2-17 years) were identified with neoplastic parotid masses; 11 tumours were malignant (65%) and six were benign (35%). The malignant tumours consisted of three acinic cell carcinomas, two mucoepidermoid carcinomas, one alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, one poorly differentiated carcinoma, one low-grade adenocarcinoma, and three metastases (two melanoma, one orbital medulloepithelioma). The benign tumours consisted of five pleomorphic adenomas and one schwannoma. Presenting clinical symptoms were similar between benign and malignant tumours. Twelve MRI and six CT examinations were available for review with five patients undergoing both techniques. MRI features commonly identified with malignant tumours included: hypointense T2 signal, restricted diffusion, ill-defined borders, and focal necrosis. Only four of the six tumours imaged at CT were visualized, and of those, the margins were indeterminate in three patients.

Conclusion

Paediatric parotid masses are more likely to be malignant than benign. Presenting clinical symptoms and CT are not helpful for distinguishing benign and malignant disease. MRI features such as T2 hypointensity, restricted diffusion, ill-defined borders, and focal necrosis, although not specific, should raise concern for malignancy.

Post-treatment radiation and chemotherapy of malignant primary glial neoplasms present a wide spectrum of tumor appearances and treatment-related entities. Radiologic findings of these post-treatment effects overlap, making it difficult to distinguish treatment response and failure. The purposes of this article are to illustrate and contrast the imaging appearances of recurrent tumor from necrosis and to discuss other radiologic effects of cancer treatments. It is critical for radiologists to recognize these treatment-related effects to help direct clinical management.

Background and purpose

Arterial stroke is a rare-but-reported complication in patients with posterior fossa brain malformations, hemangiomas, arterial anomalies, coarctation of the aorta and cardiac defects, and eye abnormalities (PHACE) syndrome. Currently, stroke risk is inferred by the severity of arterial anomalies identified on MRA, though no evidenced-based data exist. The purpose of our study was to determine whether arterial spin-labeling MR imaging perfusion can detect alterations in CBF in patients with PHACE syndrome.

Materials and methods

Records were reviewed from 3 institutions for all patients with PHACE syndrome who underwent arterial spin-labeling from 2000 to 2019. CBF was qualitatively investigated with arterial spin-labeling to determine whether there was decreased or normal perfusion. Arterial anomalies were characterized on MRA imaging, and parenchymal brain findings were evaluated on conventional MR imaging sequences.

Results

Forty-one patients with PHACE syndrome had arterial spin-labeling imaging. There were 30 females and 11 males (age range, 7 days to 15 years). Of the 41 patients, 10 (24%) had decreased CBF signal corresponding to a major arterial territory. Ten of 10 patients had decreased CBF signal in the anterior circulation, 2/10 had decreased anterior and posterior circulation CBF signal, 2/10 had decreased bilateral anterior circulation CBF signal, and 1/10 had globally decreased CBF signal. Forty of 41 (97.5%) patients had at least 1 arteriopathy, and in those with decreased CBF signal, the arteriopathy corresponded to the CBF signal alteration in 10/10 patients.

Conclusions

Arterial spin-labeling can potentially characterize hemodynamic changes in patients with PHACE syndrome.

Background and purpose

Recent advances in spinal cord imaging analysis have led to the development of a robust anatomic template and atlas incorporated into an open-source platform referred to as the Spinal Cord Toolbox. Using the Spinal Cord Toolbox, we sought to correlate measures of GM, WM, and cross-sectional area pathology on T2 MR imaging with motor disability in patients with acute flaccid myelitis.

Materials and methods

Spinal cord imaging for 9 patients with acute flaccid myelitis was analyzed by using the Spinal Cord Toolbox. A semiautomated pipeline using the Spinal Cord Toolbox measured lesion involvement in GM, WM, and total spinal cord cross-sectional area. Proportions of GM, WM, and cross-sectional area affected by T2 hyperintensity were calculated across 3 ROIs: 1) center axial section of lesion; 2) full lesion segment; and 3) full cord atlas volume. Spearman rank order correlation was calculated to compare MR metrics with clinical measures of disability.

Results

Proportion of GM metrics at the center axial section significantly correlated with measures of motor impairment upon admission (r [9] = -0.78; P = .014) and at 3-month follow-up (r [9] = -0.66; P = .05). Further, proportion of GM extracted across the full lesion segment significantly correlated with initial motor impairment (r [9] = -0.74, P = .024). No significant correlation was found for proportion of WM or proportion of cross-sectional area with clinical disability.

Conclusions

Atlas-based measures of proportion of GM T2 signal abnormality measured on a single axial MR imaging section and across the full lesion segment correlate with motor impairment and outcome in patients with acute flaccid myelitis. This is the first atlas-based study to correlate clinical outcomes with segmented measures of T2 signal abnormality in the spinal cord.

Malignant gliomas are characterized by infiltrative growth of tumor cells, including along white matter tracts. This may result in clinical cranial neuropathy due to direct involvement of a cranial nerve rather than by leptomeningeal spread along cranial nerves. Gliomas directly involving cranial nerves III-XII are rare, with only 11 cases reported in the literature before 2014, including 8 with imaging. We present 8 additional cases demonstrating direct infiltration of a cranial nerve by a glioma. Asymmetric cisternal nerve expansion compared with the contralateral nerve was noted with a mean length of involvement of 9.4 mm. Based on our case series, the key imaging feature for recognizing direct cranial nerve involvement by a glioma is the detection of an intra-axial mass in the pons or midbrain that is directly associated with expansion, signal abnormality, and/or enhancement of the adjacent cranial nerves.

Background and purpose

Third and fourth branchial apparatus anomalies are rare congenital anomalies. The purpose of this study was to investigate imaging features of these lesions on fetal MR imaging in comparison with lymphatic malformations, the major competing differential diagnosis in these cases.

Materials and methods

A retrospective review of our institutional fetal MR imaging database between 1997 and 2019 resulted in 4 patients with confirmed third and fourth branchial apparatus anomalies and 14 patients with confirmed lymphatic malformations. The imaging features were reviewed by consensus, and the Fisher exact test was used to evaluate statistically significant differences between these 2 populations.

Results

Four cases of third and fourth branchial apparatus anomalies were imaged at 29 weeks 1 day (range, 23 weeks 1 day to 33 weeks 4 days). All 4 cases demonstrated unilateral, unilocular cysts without reduced diffusion or hemorrhage and a medially directed beaked contour that tapered between the spine and airway at the level of the piriform sinus. Compared with 14 cases of fetal lymphatic malformations imaged at 27 weeks 6 days (range, 21 weeks 3 days to 34 weeks 6 days), third and fourth branchial apparatus cysts were significantly more likely to be unilocular (P < .005) and to have a medially beaked contour (P < .005). The combination of features of unilateral, unilocular, and medially beaked contour was observed only in the fetuses with third and fourth branchial apparatus cysts (P < .001).

Conclusions

The presence of a left-sided unilocular cyst with a medially beaked contour tapering at the level of the piriform sinus suggests the diagnosis of third and fourth branchial apparatus anomaly. Accurate diagnosis in the prenatal period allows proper counseling, genetic work-up, and treatment, potentially sparing patients from recurrent infections and associated morbidity.