Diagnosing aneurysmal and unicameral bone cysts with magnetic resonance imaging.

The differential between aneurysmal bone cysts and unicameral bone cysts usually is clear clinically and radiographically. Occasionally there are cases in which the diagnosis is not clear. Because natural history and treatment are different, the ability to distinguish between these two entities before surgery is important. The authors reviewed, in a blinded fashion, the preoperative magnetic resonance images to investigate criteria that could be used to differentiate between the two lesions. All patients had operative or pathologic confirmation of an aneurysmal bone cyst or unicameral bone cyst. The authors analyzed the preoperative magnetic resonance images of 14 patients with diagnostically difficult bone cysts (eight children with unicameral bone cysts and six children with aneurysmal bone cysts) and correlated these findings with diagnosis after biopsy or cyst aspiration and contrast injection. The presence of a double density fluid level within the lesion strongly indicated that the lesion was an aneurysmal bone cyst, rather than a unicameral bone cyst. Other criteria that suggested the lesion was an aneurysmal bone cyst were the presence of septations within the lesion and signal characteristics of low intensity on T1 images and high intensity on T2 images. The authors identified a way of helping to differentiate between aneurysmal bone cysts and unicameral bone cysts on magnetic resonance images. Double density fluid level, septation, and low signal on T1 images and high signal on T2 images strongly suggest the bone cyst in question is an aneurysmal bone cyst, rather than a unicameral bone cyst. This may be helpful before surgery for the child who has a cystic lesion for which radiographic features do not allow a clear differentiation of unicameral bone cyst from aneurysmal bone cyst.