title: Signal intensity of the normal pontine tegmentum on T2-weighted MR imaging.
abstract: On T2-weighted MR images, the pontine tegmentum frequently shows a signal of high intensity in neurologically healthy individuals. We examined whether the signal intensity of the pontine tegmentum normally differs from that of the pontine base. We evaluated the signal intensity of the pontine tegmentum and pontine base on T2-weighted images from 38 neurologically healthy subjects. The subjects included 29 adults (16 males and 13 females, age range 23-48 years, mean age 39.5 years) and 9 children (4 boys and 5 girls (age range 4-9 years mean age 6.5 years). We compared the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between the tegmentum and the base in the upper pons, midpons and lower pons, and evaluated the signal intensity ratio of the tegmentum to the base. The CNR was significantly higher for the tegmentum than the base at each level of the pons (P<0.0001), and the signal intensity ratio of the tegmentum to the base in the upper pons was significantly higher in children than in adults (P<0.005). On T2-weighted images, a high signal intensity of the pontine tegmentum is frequently seen in neurologically healthy subjects. This finding should not be considered abnormal, particularly in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kumamoto Regional Medical Center, Japan. casao@krmc.or.jp
authors.forename: Chiaki
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Asao
authors.forename: Toshinori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imuta
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Masamichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamaguchi
authors.forename: Katsuro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sagara
authors.forename: Yukunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Korogi
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamashita
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D049449:Luminescence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011149:Pons / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000033:anatomy & histology*