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Purpose: Identification of the precentral gyrus can be difficult in patients with brain tumors. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of functional MRI (fMRI) in identifying motor cortex and speech areas as a part of preoperative neurosurgical planning., Method: fMRI was performed using a 1.5 T MR unit in 41 patients with brain tumors. The motor paradigm was finger tapping and foot movement, whereas the language paradigm consisted of a two word semantic test. Statistical analysis of the data was done using the Kolmogorow-Smirnow test. Plots of signal intensities over time were created., Results: The precentral gyrus was identified in 38 of 41 patients. In two patients, fMRI was not of acceptable quality due to motion artifacts. Speech areas were localized in 33 patients. In a typical clinical setting, the value of the method was graded "high.", Conclusion: fMRI's efficacy in the preoperative localization of language and motor areas is high. The method should become a routine adjunct for preoperative evaluation of brain tumors in the near future.

Purpose: Our goal was to evaluate the potential of dynamic MRI in differentiating mastitis and inflammatory breast carcinoma. Furthermore, we evaluated the potential of breast MRI to follow up mastitis patients under antibiotic treatment., Method: Twenty-one cases of dynamic breast MR (11 mastitis, 10 inflammatory carcinomas) were reviewed. All patients had a history consistent with either mastitis or inflammatory breast carcinoma. The final diagnosis was histologically confirmed., Results: Ninety percent of the inflammatory carcinomas were found to enhance > 100% in the first minute compared with 55% for mastitis. There is no significant difference between mastitis and inflammatory carcinoma., Conclusion: While breast MR cannot currently be used definitively to distinguish inflammatory carcinoma from mastitis, the differences in dynamic enhancement may prove to be useful in follow-up of presumed mastitis in problematic cases. If after biopsy the diagnosis remains unclear, breast MR may help to (a) demonstrate the success of the antibiotic treatment and (b) diagnose coexisting or confounding inflammatory carcinoma.