[The most common problem addressed by dynamic radionuclide imaging of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) abnormalities is differentiating patients with normal-pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) from those with other forms of degenerative brain disorder who would clearly not benefit from surgical treatment by ventricular shunting. Radionuclide cisternography (RC) SPECT and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) SPECT are critically important for the diagnosis and therapy management of patients with chronic hydrocephalus. However, radionuclide imaging is helpful not only in identifying patients with NPH showing improvement after shunting. RC reveals tracer activity outside the intracranial cavity, indeed. The importance of establishing the diagnosis arises from the fact that untreated leaks can be followed by meningitis in up to one quarter of patients. CSF collections may communicate with the subarachnoid space. RC SPECT has proved useful in assessing the communication of the arachnoid cysts (CSF collection) with the ventricular or subarachnoid compartment. Improved anatomical detail revealed by SPECT imaging is helpful in solving problems of the CSF pathology. Sensitive and accurate assessments of normal and disordered CSF dynamics can be obtained with RC SPECT.]

[Spontaneous intracranial hypotension is a rare complication of connective tissue disorders. One of them is Marfan syndrome. It predisposes the patient to meningeal diverticula. Possibly after minor unrecognised head trauma or secondary to Valsalva manoeuvre cerebrospinal fluid leak from meningeal diverticula can happen. It causes postural headache. We describe a 15 year old adolescent female newly diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, who presented with intractable postural headache. Our patient's brain MRI showed bilateral frontal subdural effusion, narrow ventricles, downward displacement of the brainstem, enlarged cervical venous plexi, dural ectasias and wide nerve root sleeves. Radionuclide cisternography demonstrated CSF leaks at multiple sites. She could not be treated conservatively, but was successfully treated by epidural saline injections. Control brain and cervical MRI confirmed her healing, too. At the two and half year follow up visit, she was completely well. So we recommend this easiest technic to use before epidural autolog blood patches.]

[During his long practice as head physician of a neurological and psychiatrical department with over 100 beds performed the examination and department of more than a hundred thousand patients. Based on the acquired experience and the data of the most recent literature he treats every aspect of the apathy syndrome. He emphasizes the multidisciplinary approach during both establishing the causes and the examination and treatment of patients. In order to clarify the diagnosis consultations with other disciplines must be used as well as the the knowledge provided by the now essential CT, MRI, PET, SPECT. The author discusses the international therapeutical possibilities and practice after the recently alredy possible exact diagnosis.]

[Here one case report of the posterior ischaemic optic neuropathy, a rare and underdiagnosed form of the non arteritic ischaemic optic neuropathy is presented, to underline the value of the MRI in the diagnosis. The ischaemic optic neuropathy is the infarction of the optic nerve. Depending on the affected segment of optic nerve (optic nerve head or retrobulbar segment) two subclasses exist: the anterior (AION) and the posterior (PION) ischaemic optic neuropathy. Ischaemic optic neuropathy characterized by sudden, painless, mononuclear loss of vision, and/or visual field defect, that is accompanied by a diagnostic picture of the optic disc fundus only in the case of the AION. The diagnosis of the PION is based on a diagnosis of exclusion described by Hayreh in 1981. The macular and retinal laesions, the etiological role of toxic agent, the compression and the inflammation of the optic nerve all have to be excluded. The differential diagnosis between the PION and the retrobulbar neuritis is more difficult. Nowadays, in addition to the case history and the clinical data the diagnosis of the PION could be confirmed with help of VEP (visual evoked potential) and MRI. In the case of an old woman who had a sudden, painless visual loss of left eye we confirmed the diagnosis of PION with MRI which was presumed after had excluding other etiological factors.]

[INTRODUCTION - Takayasu’s arteritis is an idiopathic inflammatory disease of the great elastic arteries, mainly of the aorta and its primary branches. It primarily affects young women. CASE REPORT - A 20-year-old woman presented with general inflammatory symptoms that had begun 3 to 4 months before. Earlier she underwent a biopsy from a mass on the neck thought to be a lymph node, which on histopathological examination turned out to be a non-necrosing granulomatosis in the wall of a large artery. Based on this finding as well as on the presence of fever, weight loss, carotid murmur, anaemia, elevated platelet count, increased sedimentation rate, the lack of pulse and the findings of imaging examinations, Takayasu’s arteritis was diagnosed. Treatment was started with high-dose steroid monotherapy, which resulted in clinical and laboratory remission after a short time. The imaging findings (neck soft tissue sonogram and MRI) also showed improvement, however, a moderate but definite disease activity was still present, thus steroid treatment was supplemented with azathioprin. CONCLUSION - It is important to follow the disease both clinically and with imaging techniques for an early recognition of the need for changing or adjusting the treatment.]