Incidental findings on brain MRI in a cohort of diabetic patients.

OBJECTIVE: To study the frequency and management of incidental findings in nonenhanced brain MRI of a middle-aged population of type 2 diabetic patients.

METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the results of 289 brain MRI obtained from subjects between 40-75 years recruited from a previous study. Incidental findings were classified into three categories: (1) Vascular findings; (2) neoplastic findings; and (3) others. On the other side, we made a classification of referral findings. To compare our results, we reviewed the prevalence and evidence about management of both incidental and referral findings in other series.

RESULTS: We found an overall prevalence of incidental findings of 10.4% (30/289). Incidental findings raised according to age. The most common incidental findings were: 7 vascular (2.4%), 6 calcifications (2.1%), 6 cystic (2.1%) and 5 neoplastic (1.7%) lesions. A percentage of 1.7% (5/289) were referral findings which required further clinical work-up.

CONCLUSION: Incidental findings are relatively common in patients with type 2 diabetes. The most frequent are vascular findings, accordance with previous studies. Referral findings are uncommon. Clinical evidence about how to best manage the majority of incidental findings is lacking.