A retrospective analysis of six cases of central nervous system paracoccidioidomycosis, all but one proven by biopsy and surgery, was carried out to study the CT and clinical data and pathological correlation. Most of the patients were from the country. Headache, vomiting, seizures and hemiparesis were the most frequent symptoms. Papilloedema was present in four patients with raised intracranial pressure. Five patients had chronic lung disease and two with advanced systemic disease, skin and mucous membrane lesions were also observed. The neurological disturbance was sometimes the presenting features and the diagnosis was discovered incidentally after surgery. Both solitary and multiple parenchymal lesions were observed and the cerebral hemispheres were more commonly involved in four patients. Local meningeal involvement was observed in one with a single cortical granuloma. We emphasise the usefulness of CT, showing a rounded or lobulated mass with an isodense or radiolucent centre after contrast enhancement, surrounded by an irregular wall of varying thickness. There was always moderate oedema, extending peripherally. Other infections or neoplastic diseases may present similar findings. Preoperative diagnosis should rest on integration of clinical data, chest films, laboratory and neuroimaging studies.

✓ Thoracic spine arachnoid ossification is a relatively rare disease that affects mainly women and causes sensory, motor, and sphinctal symptoms associated with inferior limb pain. Based on three cases, the authors comment on pathogenic and surgery-related aspects of the disease. The patient in Case 1 was followed over the course of 23 years. Spinal cavitation is highlighted in Case 2, and yellow, gross, half-ring ossification is described in Case 3. Calcium deposits usually occur in the middle and lower thoracic spine where the majority of trabeculated arachnoid cells are located. Operative treatment does not interrupt the ossification process, which continues over time, causing progressive deterioration in the patient. Spinal cavitation can occur due to spinal cord tethering, stretching, and central cord edema formation, accompanied by cerebrospinal fluid blockage and pulse pressure changes. The results of surgical intervention are poor, offering short-term recovery with later deterioration. Multiple pathogenic factors are involved in this clinical syndrome including metabolic changes.

We describe the case of a patient with a recent history of high back pain, with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the thoracic spine showing intervertebral disk herniation into the spongious bone of the vertebral body of T9 that might have caused diffuse, low signal intensity on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery T1-weighted (FLAIR-T1W) images, high signal intensity magnetic resonance (MR) on T2-weighted (T2W) images and T2-weighted fat-suppressed images (T2W-FSIs) and marked enhancement on the vertebral body of T9 with gadolinium on T1-weighted fat-suppressed images (T1W-FSIs) images. Those findings suggested diffuse edema and might be indistinguishable from tumoral or inflammatory diseases, but the plain films and the reformatted sagittal computed tomography scans of the thoracic spine were helpful to show a calcified part of the intervertebral disk migrating into the vertebral body of T9. The patient made full recovery from the symptoms after conservative treatment and at the follow-up MRI showed normalization of the bone marrow signal intensity of the vertebral body of T9.

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