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Ever since the introduction of magnetic resonance (MR), imaging with 1.5 T has been considered the gold standard for the study of all body areas. Until not long ago, higher-field MR equipment was exclusively employed for research, not for clinical use. More recently, the introduction of 3.0 T MR machines for new and more sophisticated clinical applications has yielded in important benefits, especially in neuroradiology. Indeed, their high gradient power and field intensity allow adjunctive and more advanced diagnostic methodologies to be applied with excellent resolution in a fraction of the time of acquisition compared with earlier machines. The numerous advantages of these machines in terms of higher signal, increased spatial resolution and greater sensitivity, and their few limitations, which can be overcome and anyway do not adversely affect diagnostic efficacy, will make 3.0 T MR systems the gold standard for morphological and functional studies of the brain.

Paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis may develop in the setting of an otherwise occult malignancy. In the case reported here, the neuropsychiatric syndrome resolved with treatment of the underlying, previously undiagnosed small-cell lung cancer, and MR imaging showed resolution of the characteristic temporal lobe signal abnormalities.

A rare case of brain abscess due to Gemella morbillorum, a normal inhabitant of the oral cavity, is presented. The aim of this report is to draw the attention of radiology literature readers to this little known pathogen, which caused a potentially life-threatening condition in an immunocompetent young man, and to emphasise the usefulness of a combined stereotactic, medical, and imaging approach to deep-located brain abscesses.

With widespread use of CT and MR imaging, experience with spontaneous dermoid rupture has significantly increased. What was previously believed to be a generally severe or even fatal accident, being the diagnosis made either at surgery or autopsy, or in patients with such consequent conditions as chemical meningitis or obstructive hydrocephalus, now appears to be more frequent than previously thought, and there is some evidence that it may also cause only a slight symptomatology or even be quite asymptomatic. We reviewed the clinical and imaging data of our series of five patients with spontaneously ruptured dermoids, spinal in one case, and intracranial supratentorial in four. These had their diagnosis following mild symptoms (number two cases) or incidentally (number two cases); the spinal tumor caused acute bladder dysfunction, possibly while undergoing rupture, and was associated with indolent intracranial fat spread. Three of the patients also had MR demonstration of asymptomatic persistence of fat spread in the subarachnoid spaces, respectively, 3, 4, and 5 years after rupture. One of the five cases, concerning a parasellar dermoid followed up over 6 years, provides the first demonstration of MR signal intensity change of the tumor prior to rupture.

The imaging evaluation of patients with spinal trauma has evolved over the past decades, and there has been particular interest in the concept of instability, to predict which a series of criteria have been proposed. We retrospectively evaluated the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in 50 patients with post-traumatic spinal instability according to Denis's three-column method, Daffner et al.'s radiographic criteria, and Oner et al.'s categorization of MRI findings; additionally, we evaluated the cord, the prevertebral tissue, and the epidural space. We suggest that an integrated panel of MRI information might be standardized in order to provide a more complete evaluation of spinal injury in an individual case and help planning surgical treatment.

The echoencephalographic examinations of 127 neonates were analysed to verify the role of US in the study of neonatal cerebral pathology, and to compare it with CT. US was of value in identifying the existence of a cerebral lesion and for follow-up. CT was more reliable for the characterization of the lesion and in establishing the surgical indications.