Pearls in Conventional Imaging Methods for Brain Tumors

Conventional imaging methods for brain tumors are currently structural techniques, usually a combination of T1- and T2-weighted MRI sequences, both pre- and post-contrast. Basic MRI protocols are widely available and highly effective at localizing intracranial masses, generating initial differential diagnoses, and following patients over time. In the rare scenario of a contraindication to either MRI or gadolinium-based contrast agents, CT is an alternative modality that reveals similar structural information, albeit with lower soft tissue contrast resolution. Since other parts of this book will cover the specifics of advanced imaging methods and brain tumor diagnoses, this chapter on conventional imaging methods will be somewhat unconventional in that it will present five general recommendations (“pearls”) based on the authors’ five-plus decades of combined experience interpreting or reviewing brain tumor cases, as well as the inevitable mistakes that they have made or seen along the way.