MRI in craniofacial fibrous dysplasia

Five patients with biopsy-proven craniofacial fibrous dysplasia underwent MRI with T1- and T2-weighted sequences and a gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted spin-echo sequence. Low to intermediate signal intensity was usually seen in the largest part of the lesion on both spin-echo sequences, but smaller regions of hyperintensity on T1- and T2-weighted images and intermediate signal intensity throughout a lesion on T1-weighted images were also seen. All lesions enhanced but only two became iso- or hyperintense compared to fat. High clinical and pathological activity in three cases correlated with high signal intensity on both spin-echo sequences and with strong enhancement in two of the three. The presence of large veins or sinusoids on pathological examination did not correlate with the enhancement pattern.