ABSTRACT
The authors assessed the relationship between ventricular enlargement, cortical atrophy, regional brain glucose metabolism, and neuropsychologic performance in 10 alcoholics and 10 control subjects. Regional brain glucose metabolism was measured with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and positron emission tomography (PET). Cortical atrophy and ventricular size were evaluated quantitatively with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Alcoholics had decreased brain glucose metabolism and more cortical atrophy but did not have significantly greater ventricular size than did control subjects. The degree of ventricular enlargement and of cortical atrophy was associated with decreased metabolism predominantly in the frontal cortices and subcortical structures in both alcoholics and control subjects. There were no significant correlations between neuropsychologic performance and MR imaging structural changes, whereas various subtest scores were significantly correlated with frontal lobe metabolism. These data show that F-18 FDG PET is a sensitive technique for detecting early functional changes in the brain due to alcohol and/or aging before structural changes can be detected with MR imaging.
Subject(s)
Alcoholism/pathology , Brain/pathology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Neuropsychological Tests , Tomography, Emission-Computed , Adult , Alcoholism/diagnostic imaging , Alcoholism/metabolism , Alcoholism/psychology , Atrophy , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Brain/metabolism , Cerebral Cortex/diagnostic imaging , Cerebral Cortex/pathology , Cerebral Ventricles/diagnostic imaging , Cerebral Ventricles/pathology , Deoxyglucose/analogs & derivatives , Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 , Glucose/metabolism , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Reference ValuesABSTRACT
We report two cases of spinal epidural air resulting from extensive pelvic injury. Although a number of etiologies for this finding have been identified, review of the literature shows no prior description of epidural air secondary to pelvic trauma.
Subject(s)
Epidural Space/diagnostic imaging , Pelvis/injuries , Spinal Canal/diagnostic imaging , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Accidents, Traffic , Adolescent , Air , Female , Humans , Lumbosacral Region , Male , Pelvis/diagnostic imagingABSTRACT
The authors report a 7-year-old girl who developed neck pain and stiffness over a four-day period. There was no fever, trauma, systemic illness or headache. Physical examination demonstrated subtle neurologic deficits indicative of cervical cord compression. CAT scan and subsequent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the cervical spine demonstrated a spinal epidural hematoma, which was evacuated surgically. Post-operative angiography failed to demonstrate a vascular abnormality. The child recovered without neurologic deficit. MRI proved to be a sensitive tool in identifying the nature and extent of this lesion, and may be considered in lieu of myelography.
