Primary hydatid disease of the femur: unsuspected and incidental MRI findings with long-term curative results on medical treatment alone.

This report describes the early magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and long-term follow-up results of albendazole treatment in a 16-year-old girl with primary hydatid disease of the femur diagnosed incidentally during the course of a post-traumatic knee infection. As far as we know, this is the first report of the early MRI findings and long-term outcome of medical treatment in primary hydatid disease of the femur in this age group.

An anatomopathologic study of membranous septum aneurysms and significance of their surgical treatment.

THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: We analyzed 14 patients with membranous septal aneurysms presenting with a left-to-right communication, by comparing the angiographic, operative and pathological findings. We decided to use medical treatment on two patients and operated on the rest (12 cases). BASIC METHODS: The mean age of the patients was 19+/-9 yr; nine were female, five were male. Cine-angiography of all patients revealed a saccular abnormality protruding into the right ventricle at the uppermost part of the interventricular septum, just below the aortic valve. The sac had the appearance of a glove finger, a cauliflower, a diverticulum, or it was dome-shaped on angiography. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Perioperative exploration revealed a perforated true aneurysmal sac in seven patients. In three patients, the perimembranous tissues were severely fibrotic, thickened or had more than one perforation. Two patients had a defect under the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve at the postero-inferior part of the septum, hidden between the chordae of the valve. CONCLUSIONS: Defining the membranous septal abnormalities clearly is not always possible by cine-angiography. Echocardiography provides additional information. Pathological examination of the resected specimens showed almost total loss of elastic fibers and extensive accumulation of mucopolysaccharides.

Vertebral sarcoidosis: imaging findings.

Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic disease of unknown aetiology characterised by noncaseating granulomatous inflammation with varying presentation and prognosis. Osseous disease reported in 1-13 % of cases commonly involves hands and feet; however, vertebral sarcoidosis is rare. This report describes the radiologic, CT, MRI and radionuclide imaging findings of vertebral involvement of a case with sarcoidosis.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis in an adult.

We present the case of a 27-year-old Caucasian woman who suffered from Langerhans cell histiocytosis with axillary and scalp involvement. She also developed diabetes insipidus after 2 years of skin lesions. Topical nitrogen mustard therapy was performed for the skin lesions, but we had to stop this therapy because of severe local irritation and systemic urticaria. Afterwards, we administered etoposide systemically, but no improvement appeared in 6 weeks. Finally we used methotrexate for 3 months and the result was very good at the end of the first month.