Whole Body MRI at 3T with Quantitative Diffusion Weighted Imaging and Contrast-Enhanced Sequences for the Characterization of Peripheral Lesions in Patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 2 and Schwannomatosis
Figure 3
Whole body STIR, postcontrast T1-weighted, and DWI images with ADC map showing a paraspinal cyst (arrows) which is hyperintense on the STIR and DWI images, without demonstrable enhancement on the postcontrast image. The addition of contrast-enhanced sequences to a WB-MRI protocol enables the distinction of cysts from tumors in patients with neurofibromatosis, a distinction not otherwise possible by STIR and T1 imaging alone. In addition, the ADC value of the cyst was mm2/sec in this patient, higher than the peripheral tumors identified in this patient (0.8 and mm2/sec), suggesting that ADC values may provide an additional metric for the distinction of cysts and tumors.
