TITLE:
Contrast Enhancement of Posterior Mediastinal Ganglioneuromas—Correlation between the Level of Enhancement and Histopathological Features
AUTHORS:
Yoshiyuki Ozawa, Masaki Hara, Maho Kato, Shigeki Shimizu, Yuta Shibamoto
KEYWORDS:
Ganglioneuroma; Enhancement; CT; MRI; Mediastinum
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Radiology,
Vol.4 No.1,
March
5,
2014
ABSTRACT: Purpose: Relationship between CT or MR images and
histological findings, especially vascularity, has not been adequately
evaluated. The purpose of this study was to investigate correlation between
contrast enhancement on CT and MRI and histological findings in posterior
mediastinal ganglioneuromas. Materials and Methods: Contrast-enhanced (CE) CT
(n = 11) and CE MRI (n = 5) of 12 patients with ganglioneuroma were
reviewed. The attenuation, signal intensity, and dynamic enhancement pattern of
the tumors were evaluated. The vascularity was histologically evaluated by the
numbers of vessels. Results: Enhancement on CE-CT was none, mild, moderate, and
high enhancement in 5 (45%), 2 (18%), 3 (27%), and 1 (9%) of the 11 lesions,
respectively. Dynamic MRI showed mild, moderate and high enhancement in 3
(60%), 1 (20%) and 1 (20%) cases, respectively. The level of contrast
enhancement correlated well only with the number of capillary vessels (r =
0.79, P = 0.0037). Conclusion: The posterior mediastinal ganglioneuromas
sometimes show insufficient enhancement particularly on CE-CT. The level of
enhancement might correlate with the amount of capillary vessels.