CT and MRI in malignant peripheral neuroectodermal tumors

: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of CT and MRI in the diagnosis of malignant peripheral neuroectodermal tumors (MPNT), the imaging data of nine patients with immunehistochemically proven MPNT were retrospectively analyzed. The average age was 24 years (ranging from 5 to 63 years). MRI and CT of all patients showed large tumors with direct infiltration of the surrounding structures. Intratumoral calcifications were not identified. All tumors showed equal to less high signal intensity in T1- and high signal intensity in T2-weighted images. Because of its high soft-tissue contrast, MRI is the most capable imaging modality in the diagnosis and therapy-monitoring in these tumors.