[Role of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of intracranial germinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis of intracranial germinoma.


METHODS
A retrospective analysis of the MRI features was conducted in 19 cases of pathologically confirmed intracranial germinoma.


RESULTS
The lesion was located in the sellar region in 10 cases, in the pineal region in 6 and in the thalamus and basal ganglia in 3. The characteristic MRI of intracranial germinoma included the following features: (1) In T1-weighted images (T1WI), the lesions were isointense or slightly hypointense, which appeared isointense or slightly hyperintense in T2-weighted images (T2WI). The germinoma in the sellar region and pineal region showed no edema, but those in the thalamus and basal ganglia showed minimal or moderate edema with space-occupying effect. (2) Homogeneous or inhomogeneous Gd-DTPA enhancement was observed in most of the tumors.


CONCLUSIONS
Multiplanar imaging and Gd-DTPA enhancement in MRI are helpful in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of intracranial germinoma, which presents features characteristic of the gender and age of the patients with the disease, location, size, form and image intensity of the lesion, and therefore, preoperative MRI diagnosis of the tumor can be possible.
Qiu
Shi-Jun
SJ
Center of Imaging Diagnosis, Nanfang Hospital, First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
Zhang
Xue-Lin
XL
Chang
Ren-Min
RM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D018237:Germinoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010870:Pineal Gland; D010871:Pinealoma / Q000175:diagnosis*