This is a basic article for medical students and other non-radiologists
Brain mass lesions are a broad collection of pathological processes that result in changes on brain imaging (usually CT or MRI). They are a very disparate group of conditions ranging from infection (abscess) to brain tumours (benign and slow-growing, metastatic or primary high-grade brain tumour). A number of features of a brain lesion can help to narrow the differential.
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Reference article
This is a summary article; we do not have a more in-depth reference article.
Summary
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pathophysiology
- brain mass lesions are a very broad group of conditions
- infection (abscess)
- neoplastic
- brain metastases
- primary brain tumour (benign/slow growing to high-grade and rapidly progressive)
- brain mass lesions are a very broad group of conditions
Imaging
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role of imaging
- is there a mass lesion?
- what's the likely cause?
- are there complications (e.g. mass effect)?
- will further imaging (or other tests) be helpful?
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radiographic features
- when making an assessment of a brain lesion, use these questions:
- is the lesion solitary?
- is the lesion definitely in the brain (intra-axial)?
- is there oedema around the lesion?
- is there associated mass effect?
- is there clinical history or previous imaging that helps in the diagnosis, e.g. history of cancer
- when making an assessment of a brain lesion, use these questions: