- Cervicofacial Venous Malformations Are Associated with Intracranial Developmental Venous Anomalies and Dural Venous Sinus Abnormalities
Sixty-three consecutive patients who presented to the authors' institution with cervicofacial venous malformations and underwent postcontrast MR imaging were studied. Three neuroradiologists reviewed brain MRIs for the presence of developmental venous anomalies, dural venous sinus ectasia, and cavernous malformations. The prevalence of developmental venous anomalies in this patient population was compared with an age- and sex-matched control group without venous malformations. The overall presence of developmental venous anomalies in patients with venous malformations was 36.5% (23/63) compared with 7.9% (10/126) in controls. The prevalence of dural venous sinus ectasia was 9.5% (6/63) compared with 0% for controls. The authors show a significant association between cervicofacial venous malformations and cerebral developmental venous anomalies as well as between cervicofacial venous malformations and dural venous sinus abnormalities.
- Posttreatment Imaging in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer without Clinical Evidence of Recurrence: Should Surveillance Imaging Extend Beyond 6 Months?
The authors performed a retrospective data base search that queried neck CT reports with Neck Imaging Reporting and Data Systems scores of 2–4 from June 2014 to March 2018. The electronic medical records were reviewed to determine outcomes of clinical and radiologic follow-up, including symptoms, physical examination findings, pathologic correlation, and clinical notes within 3 months of imaging. A total of 255 cases all with NIRADS scores of 2 or 3 met the inclusion criteria. Fifty-nine patients (23%) demonstrated recurrence, and 21 patients (36%) had clinically occult recurrence. The median overall time to radiologically detected, clinically occult recurrence was 11.4 months from treatment completion. They conclude that imaging surveillance beyond the first posttreatment baseline study was critical for detecting clinically occult recurrent disease in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. More than one-third of all recurrences were seen in patients without clinical evidence of disease.