[Inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) are relatively rare in children, but their relevance to public health is considerable due to frequent and significant long term morbidity and even mortality. As in adults, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and multiple sclerosis (MS) and their variants are the most common entities in this group of pathologies in the pediatric patient population. Recent efforts have focused on establishing standardized diagnostic criteria schemes to facilitate the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of these diseases, however especially with multiple sclerosis those have not been fully validated yet for disease occurring in children. In recent decades the role of MRI has been constantly increasing in the diagnostic work-up of suspected inflammatory diseases of the CNS as well as in the follow-up of patients with confirmed disease. Currently, MRI is the first-line diagnostic imaging modality in ADEM and MS and is fully integrated in the most widely used diagnostic criteria schemes, but it has a key role in clinical therapeutic research trials as well. This paper provides an update on the current concepts and strategies of MRI in inflammatory diseases of the CNS, as well as a review of the imaging semiology of the various disease entities and variants with emphasis on clinical and imaging particularities relevant to the pediatric patient population.]

Marchiafava-Bignami disease (MBD) is a rare alcohol-associated disorder characterized by demyelination and necrosis of the corpus callosum. We report three patients who had history of chronic alcoholism, different clinical presentation and MRI findings consistent with the diagnosis of Marchiafava-Bignami disease.

[Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays more and more important role in the abdominal imaging diagnostics since fast measurement sequences have become available making it possible to avoid movement artifacts and resulting in better quality and more informative images of the abdominal parenchymal organs and most segments of the gastrointestinal tract. The greatest advantage of MRI is that it is able to create images of adequate geometric resolution and excellent tissue characterization capacity without the use of ionizing radiation and iodinated contrast media. Today MRI is applied mostly in those cases when previous data suggest that computed tomography will not be informative or the results of recent imaging examinations (x-ray, ultrasound, computed tomography) do not provide sufficient diagnosis. Presumably MRI will be used with increasing frequency as the first or single best method of choice in the near future. Beased on these facts in abdominal diagnostics, MRI may be considered as a problem-solving modality which plays an outstanding role in the detection, differential diagnosis, staging and follow-up of many neoplastic and inflammatory lesions.]

[INTRODUCTION - The xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis is a rare and benign form of lesions associated with diffuse thickening of the gall bladder wall. It is important to recognize it radiologically because it can be mistaken easily for gall bladder carcinoma. The characteristic US, CT and MR findings, however, may be helpful in the differential diagnosis. CASE REPORT - We present the cases of two middleaged female patients suffering from right upper quadrant, radiating abdominal pain for several weeks without occurrence of fever. In both patients, the ultrasound examination revealed marked thickening of the gall bladder wall containing hypoechoic nodules. Further, non-specific sign such as cholecystolithiasis and fine infiltration of the adipose tissue surrounding the gall bladder and dilatation of extrahepatic or intrahepatic bile ducts were visible. On the post contrast CT images, rim enhancement was detectable. MR/MRCP examination showed a sharp delineation of the gall bladder from the liver parenchyma. Both patients underwent cholecystectomy. The pathological examination excluded malignancy and confirmed the diagnosis of xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis. CONCLUSION - The characteristic features of xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis (hypoechoic xanthogranulomas in the markedly thickened gall bladder wall and the presence of calculi) can be detected by ultrasound examination. CT or MRI may play an important role in confirmation of the diagnosis of an inflammatory process and provide useful information in exclusion of gall bladder carcinoma.]

[Our aim is to review the radiologic literature of lung cancer of 2004 and some remarkable publications from 2003. There are three main groups in the recent publications dealing with lung cancer’s radiology. The first group comprises those reviews and metaanalyses which focus on the overall utility and reliability of routinely applied modalities such as CT and MRI. In the second group we find original articles reporting on the experience with new modalities. This group is dominated by publications dealing with positron emission tomography and the first clinical results of combined PET-CT technology. In the third part we review those articles dealing with lung cancer screening. Radiological lung cancer screening is in the focus of interest again, mainly due to the introduction of low-dose CT which is undoubtadly the most sensitive radiological modality for the early detection of lesions, however, its clinical utility is debated. The papers referred are basically sceptic, but this is not the end, because controlled long term follow-up studies are still in progress. Part of the publications report on the first clinical results of new methods, while others give valuable additional data regarding the performance of “well established” radiological modalities.]