What is this bump in my neck? Ultrasonographic evaluation of pediatric neck masses.

Neck masses are common in pediatric patients, with benign etiologies such as congenital or inflammatory lesions accounting most of these masses. Anatomic location (most important), clinical history, and the appearance in ultrasonography (US) are helpful clues to narrow down differential diagnosis. Because of widespread availability, lack of ionizing radiation, and no need for sedation or contrast administration, US is the preferred initial modality for the evaluation. Further evaluation with cross-sectional imagings is needed for more extensive lesions with trans-spatial extension or suspicion of intrathoracic or retropharyngeal extension. This review will focus on US appearance and clinical presentation of masses of the neck in children, to enable radiologist to arrive at a reasonable differential diagnosis. We also briefly discuss more complex pathologies that need to be evaluated with cross-sectional modalities such as CT scan and magnetic resonance imaging.

Autoimmune disease of head and neck, imaging, and clinical review.

Autoimmune disease of the head and neck (H&N) could be primary or secondary to systemic diseases, medications, or malignancies. Immune-mediated diseases of the H&N are not common in daily practice of radiologists; the diagnosis is frequently delayed because of the non-specific initial presentation and lack of familiarity with some of the specific imaging and clinical features. In this review, we aim to provide a practical diagnostic approach based on the specific radiological findings for each disease. We hope that our review will help radiologists expand their understanding of the spectrum of the discussed disease entities, help them narrow the differential diagnosis, and avoid unnecessary tissue biopsy when appropriate based on the specific clinical scenarios.

Autoimmune diseases of the brain, imaging and clinical review.

There is an extensive spectrum of autoimmune entities that can involve the central nervous system, which has expanded with the emergence of new imaging modalities and several clinicopathologic entities. Clinical presentation is usually non-specific, and imaging has a critical role in the workup of these diseases. Immune-mediated diseases of the brain are not common in daily practice for radiologists and, except for a few of them such as multiple sclerosis, there is a vague understanding about differentiating them from each other based on the radiological findings. In this review, we aim to provide a practical diagnostic approach based on the unique radiological findings for each disease. We hope our diagnostic approach will help radiologists expand their basic understanding of the discussed disease entities and narrow the differential diagnosis in specific clinical scenarios. An understanding of unique imaging features of these disorders, along with laboratory evaluation, may enable clinicians to decrease the need for tissue biopsy.