Pheochromocytoma with posthemorrhagic cystic degeneration: Magnetic resonance imaging findings

✍ Scribed by Satoshi Goshima; Masayuki Kanematsu; Hiroshi Kondo; Ryujiro Yokoyama; Hiroaki Hoshi; Noriyuki Moriyama

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 317 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.20052

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

We describe in vivo and in vitro magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of a pheochromocytoma with posthemorrhagic cystic degeneration in a 74‐year‐old man. The in vivo MR images showed the mass as an area of homogeneous moderate hyperintensity with a central area of intense hyperintensity outlined by a thin hypointense rim on a T2‐weighted image. The in vitro MR images showed a hyperintense rim around the central cystic area consistent with hemorrhage on T1‐weighted gradient‐echo images with short echo times (1.6 and 4.2 msec) and more distinctly revealed the blurring effect due to susceptibility of hemosiderin on those with long echo times (6 and 8 msec). Hemosiderin deposition caused by intraparenchymal hemorrhage in the pheochromocytoma can be appreciated on spoiled gradient‐echo images with different echo times, which is ordinarily included in the MRI protocol as phase‐shift imaging. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:640–644. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.