A rare case of cystic ganglionosis in a child with associated imaging findings.

Ganglia are benign soft tissue masses that are found adjacent to joints and tendons. They can be multifocal but they are rarely more numerous than a few around any given joint. "Cystic ganglionosis" has been used to describe a condition in which multifocal and extensive ganglia are present. We present a rare case of cystic ganglionosis in a Caucasian girl with clinical symptoms detected at 6 months of age. To the authors' knowledge, only a single other case report of cystic ganglionosis is documented in the English medical literature. The ganglia in this case are more extensive, manifested at an earlier age and caused erosions of multiple bones, a rarely observed complication of ganglia. Additionally, radiograph, MR and sonographic images collected over 9 years time allows for a detailed description of the imaging characteristics of this case of cystic ganglionosis, and offers unique insight into the natural history of this diagnosis. Extensive ganglia in multiple locations in a young child should alert clinicians to the possibility of cystic ganglionosis. Disease progression may lead to deleterious effects on bone warranting the use of maintenance imaging and possibly surgical resection of symptomatic lesions.

Voluntary Alcohol Intake following Blast Exposure in a Rat Model of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Alcoholism is a frequent comorbidity following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), even in patients without a previous history of alcohol dependence. Despite this correlational relationship, the extent to which the neurological effects of mTBI contribute to the development of alcoholism is unknown. In this study, we used a rodent blast exposure model to investigate the relationship between mTBI and voluntary alcohol drinking in alcohol naïve rats. We have previously demonstrated in Sprague Dawley rats that blast exposure leads to microstructural abnormalities in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and other brain regions that progress from four to thirty days. The mPFC is a brain region implicated in alcoholism and drug addiction, although the impact of mTBI on drug reward and addiction using controlled models remains largely unexplored. Alcohol naïve Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to a blast model of mTBI (or sham conditions) and then tested in several common measures of voluntary alcohol intake. In a seven-week intermittent two-bottle choice alcohol drinking test, sham and blast exposed rats had comparable levels of alcohol intake. In a short access test session at the conclusion of the two-bottle test, blast rats fell into a bimodal distribution, and among high intake rats, blast treated animals had significantly elevated intake compared to shams. We found no effect of blast when rats were tested for an alcohol deprivation effect or compulsive drinking in a quinine adulteration test. Throughout the experiment, alcohol drinking was modest in both groups, consistent with other studies using Sprague Dawley rats. In conclusion, blast exposure had a minimal impact on overall alcohol intake in Sprague Dawley rats, although intake was increased in a subpopulation of blast animals in a short access session following intermittent access exposure.