SPINAL NEURILEMOMAS AND NEUROFIBROMAS - CENTRAL DOT SIGN IN POSTGADOLINIUM MRI

The MR studies of three histologically proven spinal neurilemmomas and neurofibromas were reviewed retrospectively. There were two benign ne urilemmomas (schwannomas) and one neurofibroma. The common characteris tic of these cases was a central low intensity focus (''dot'') seen on postcontrast T1-weighted imaging. The low intensity foci corresponded histologically to a congeries of changes including edema, microcysts, foam cells, hyalinization of blood vessels, old hemorrhage, and dystr ophic calcification.