title: A case report of an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the neck: A focus on the computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings.
abstract: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMTs) of the neck are rare, with only a few patients reported in the literature. The present study discusses the clinical manifestations, radiographic characteristics and management of these tumors, with a focus on imaging modalities. A case of IMT of the neck is presented and the associated literature is reviewed. In total, seven patients in seven English-language studies, including the present case, and one patient in one Chinese-language study were found. On CT scans, all tumors appeared as soft-tissue densities. Upon magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), all tumors displayed a heterogeneous hypointense-isointense signal on T1-weighted sequences and an isointense-hyperintense signal on T2-weighted sequences. All tumors showed enhancement on enhanced CT and MR images. The imaging features of the neck IMTs can be summarized as follows: i) When enhanced, the tumor displays enhancement on CT and MR images; ii) MRI is superior to CT scans in the differential diagnosis of this disease; iii) in general, the lesion displays a hypointense-isointense signal on T1-weighted sequences and an isointense-hyperintense signal on T2-weighted sequences; iv) due to the fibrous tissue in the tumor, delayed enhancement may be observed on gadolinium-enhanced MR images; and v) due to its benign or intermediate features, the tumor is usually a well-defined mass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310003, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ke-Jia
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310003, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shen-Qing
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310003, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shui-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: clinical manifestations; imaging characteristics; inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors; neck; surgery