Imaging of brain stem tumors

Modern neuroimaging of the brain stem is performed using primarily computed tomography (CT) scanning and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MR imaging, characterized by high-contrast resolution and multiplanarity and devoid of artifacts, enables an exact definition of tumor site, size, topography, and extension. The most frequent tumors found in this small but complex area include fibrillary and pilocytic astrocytoma, ependyoma, lymphoma, and metastasis as well as cavernoma, the most frequent nontumoral lesion.