title: Prevalence of "dural tail sign" in patients with different intracranial pathologies.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to clarify the prevalence, spectrum of associated tumors and the diagnostic value of the linear meningeal thickening and enhancement adjacent to a peripherally located cranial mass "dural tail sign"(DTS) in contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this prospective descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from 2002 to 2005, 110 patients with imaging-proven intracranial lesions and no history of previous intracranial surgery were referred to the neurosurgery clinic of our hospital for surgical resection. All underwent imaging with a 1.5 T MR system with and without contrast injection. Twelve patients were excluded from our study and finally 98 patients were evaluated for the presence of "dural tail sign". Twenty-two of 98 patients (22.44%) with intracranial masses exhibited the "dural tail sign" (18 meningiomas, 2 pituitary adenomas, 1 primary cerebral lymphoma and 1 fungal brain abscess). Fifty-eight percent of the patients with biopsy-proven meningioma were observed to show "dural tail sign". In conclusion, we found the "dural tail sign" to have a sensitivity of 58.6% and specificity of 94.02% in diagnosis of meningioma.
authors: Department of Radiology and Imaging, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran. hadirokni@yahoo.com
authors: Hadi
authors: H
authors: Rokni-Yazdi
authors: Houman
authors: H
authors: Sotoudeh