Findings on magnetic resonance imaging of the spine and femur in a case of McCune-Albright syndrome.

Polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, a major osseous change in McCune-Albright syndrome, is seen in the cranium, facial bones, bones of the extremities, and ribs, but rarely in the spine. Spinal X-rays revealed no abnormalities in an 8-year-old girl with this syndrome, but 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate bone scintigraphy disclosed high-density areas in the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. Multiple well-circumscribed areas of low signal intensity were seen on T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine. Although MRI spine scans in this disease have never been reported, our findings in this case proved interesting for evaluating osseous lesions. MRI made it possible to differentiate between fibrous lesions (low signal intensity on T1- and T2-weighted MRI) and cartilaginous lesions (low signal intensity on T1-weighted MRI and high signal intensity on T2-weighted MRI).