Giant Cerebral Tuberculoma Masquerading as Malignant Brain Tumor - A Report of Two Cases.

Giant cerebral tuberculoma is an uncommon but serious form of tuberculosis. We report two patients who had a single, large lesion on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. Both patients underwent neurosurgery for the excision of the mass lesion as neuroimaging findings were suggestive of a brain tumor. Tuberculoma was later diagnosed on histopathological examination. We want to highlight that cerebral tuberculomas can mimic malignant brain tumors, as the clinical, laboratory, and radiologic features of cerebral tuberculomas are nonspecific.

Role of MR Morphology and Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in the Evaluation of Meningiomas: Radio-Pathologic Correlation.

INTRODUCTION: Preoperative differentiation of benign, atypical and malignant meningiomas would significantly help in surgical planning and treatment. The aim of this study is to look at radio-morphologic behavior of various histopathological types and grades of meningiomas and their diffusion characteristics. METHODS: We performed an analytical cross-sectional study including all patients operated on for meningiomas at our hospital during January 2016 to July 2018. We studied 38 meningiomas in 38 patients aged 14 to 73 years old. All patients underwent MRI prior to surgery, including diffusion-weighted sequences, in a 1.5T scanner. Signal intensity in T2-weighted images, diffusion-weighted images (b=0, 90 and 1,000), and Apparent Diffusion Coefficient maps within the tumors and in the normal parietal white matter as a reference were evaluated. In the histological study, cellularity, proliferation index, histological grade, and cerebral invasion were evaluated. RESULTS: There was female predilection with male:female ratio of 1:2.4. Most meningiomas were supratentorial with most common origin being parafalcine and convexity. Of the 38 meningiomas, 31 were WHO grade I, 6 were WHO grade II (atypical) and one was WHO grade III (anaplastic). Among various tumors' behaviors, incomplete CSF cleft, pial invasion and parenchymal invasion were significantly high in high-grade tumors. Similarly, tumors showing pial invasion, breached tumor-brain interface, no capsular enhancement and parenchyma invasion showed significantly low NADC. Mean ADC value was 0.722±7.7x10-3 mm2/s (normalized ADC 0.9±0.1) in the atypical group and 0.876±24.56x10-3 mm2/s (normalized ADC 1.11±0.31) in the typical group. No statistically significant differences of ADC/NADC were found between histologic subtypes. Two subtypes of typical meningiomas, metaplastic and angiomatous meningioma had the highest values in the ADC maps. CONCLUSIONS: MR morphology like pial invasion, breached tumors brain interface, parenchymal invasion can predict aggressiveness and atypical nature of meningiomas. Meningioma shows moderately restricted diffusion. The signal on the ADC map is associated with tumors cellularity and aggressiveness suggesting its usefulness for predicting the histological grade.

Chorea-acanthocytosis: a case report.

Neuroacanthocytosis is a group of rare disorders. We report a 36-year-old right-handed female who presented with gradually progressive abnormal facial movements, generalized weakness, and lower-lip biting starting 4 years ago. On examination, she had lower-lip ulcer, orofacial dyskinesias, and peripheral neuropathy. Her peripheral blood smears showed acanthocytosis and magnetic resonance imaging revealed atrophied head of caudate nuclei and putaminal hyperintensities on T2-weighted and fluid attenuated inversion recovery images. Work-up for autoimmune and metabolic causes was negative. She was diagnosed with chorea-acanthocytosis, an entity under neuroacanthocytosis syndrome and the patient was offered symptomatic treatment.

Scleredema--an uncommon cause of swelling in a child--a case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Body swelling in a child is a common symptom. Apart from systemic causes like renal, hepatic, and cardiac, rarely such a swelling may be caused by dermatologic conditions. CASE PRESENTATION: A child presented with swelling of the body which was subsequently diagnosed as scleredema, a rare and benign dermatologic condition. Scleredema can be confused with similar sounding terms like scleroderma and scleromyxedema. CONCLUSIONS: The case is presented to highlight scleredema as a rare cause of body swelling in paediatrics and to differentiate it from similar sounding rare terms like scleroderma and scleromyxedema.

Tru-cut biopsy as the initial method of tissue diagnosis in bone tumors with soft tissue extension.

BACKGROUND: Tru-cut biopsy in suspected bone tumors can be performed even in less specialized centers. Tru-cut biopsy has been proved as safe with more than 90% accuracy. However, its usefulness was not widely studied in general hospitals where Tru-cut biopsy is performed by orthopedic surgeons. This study was conducted to find out the accuracy and adequacy of Tru-cut biopsy performed by an orthopedic surgeon not trained in musculoskeletal oncology, in a general hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A study was conducted through a prospectively collected database using a uniform protocol. All patients who had a malignant appearing bone lesion with a palpable soft tissue mass were included in the current study. Fifty such consecutive cases underwent Tru-Cut biopsy by orthopedic residents or registrars who were aware of the principles of Tru-cut biopsy and the recommendations of Musculoskeletal Tumor Society. When an open biopsy or a resection of the tumor was subsequently performed, the histological diagnosis was compared for accuracy with the diagnosis of needle biopsy. We evaluated adequacy of sample obtained and accuracy of diagnosis in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. RESULTS: Seventy seven cases were initially enrolled. Out of which 18 were excluded and 59 patients were biopsied. Out of which 50 were analysed. Only 4 out of 50 biopsied specimens were inadequate resulting in an adequacy rate of 92%. Among 46 cases, which were analyzed for diagnostic accuracy, 84.78% had true-positive result, 8.69% had true negative, and 6.52% had false-negative report. The sensitivity and specificity of Tru-cut biopsy in our series was 92.85% and 100%, respectively, with positive predictive value of 100% and negative predictive value of 57.14%. CONCLUSIONS: Tru-cut biopsy can be recommended as an initial method of tissue diagnosis in musculoskeletal tumors with soft tissue extension.