Lumbosacral Lipoma: Gadolinium-Enhanced Fat Saturation T1 Weighted MR Image is Necessary?

Abstract

Purpose : To evaluate the usefulness of contrast-enhanced fat saturation T1-weighted imaging for the evaluation of spinal lipoma, compared with clinical symptoms and surgical findings. Materials and Methods : Ten patients with lipomyelomeningocele, confirmed by surgery, were included in this study. In all cases, conventional spin echo T1-and T2-weighted MR imaging, and contrast-enhanced fat saturation T1-weighted imaging was performed to evaluate clinical symptoms, the position of the conus medullaris, the prescence of cord tethering, and associated anomalies, and to compare the relative usefulness of the techniques. Results : All ten patients were suffering from lipomyelomeningocele without filum terminale fibrolipoma or intradural lipoma. All cases were associated with cord tethering. As associated anomalies, there were seven cases of syringomyelia without hydrocephalus or anorectal anomaly. To evaluate the position of the spinal conus and the prescence of cord tethering, conventional T1-weighted imaging was more useful than the contrast-enhanced fat saturation equivalent. Conclusion : In patients with early-stage spinal lipona, MRI is useful for evaluation of the causes and position of cord tethering and associated anomalies Our results suggest that contrast-enhanced fat saturation T1-weighted images do not provide additional information concerning spinal lipoma, and that for the diagnosis of this condition, conventional T1 and T2-weighted images are more useful than those obtained by contrast-enhanced fat saturation T1-weighted imaging.