MRI findings of giant cell tumors of the spine.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to describe the MRI features of giant cell tumors of the spine in 10 patients.


CONCLUSIONS
One of the tumors was located in C7. The other nine tumors were located in the thoracic spine, lumbar spine, and sacrum, three in each site. The characteristic findings included an expansile mass with heterogeneous low to intermediate signal intensity on the T2-weighted images (10/10), a curvilinear area of signal void on T1- and T2-weighted images (9/10), and cystic changes within the mass (4/10). Although no imaging feature was pathognomonic, MRI was found to be valuable in identifying the tumor, revealing its extent, and defining its relationship with the intraspinal structures.
Kwon
Jong Won
JW
Department of Radiology and Center for Imaging Science, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 135-710, Korea.
Chung
Hye Won
HW
Cho
Eun Yoon
EY
Hong
Sung Hwan
SH
Choi
Sang-Hee
SH
Yoon
Young Cheol
YC
Yi
Sang Kyu
SK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D018212:Giant Cell Tumor of Bone / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*