Objective To investigate the CT and MRI features of supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors (sPNET)in adults,and to analyze the reasons of misdiagnosis.Methods The CT and MRI features of 1 5 patients with sPNET confirmed by pathology were analyzed retrospective.13 of 15 patients were underwent plain and contrast enhanced MRI,4 patients were also performed CT scan and the other 2 patients were underwent CT plain scan only.Results Nine of 1 5 lesions were located in the temporal and/or frontal lobe,with clear margin in 12 lesions,and mild to moderate peritumoral was noted in most cases.The solid portion of the lesions were hyperdense on CT,isointense or slightly hypointense on T1WI,and isointense or hyperintense on T2WI compared to the gray matter.Calcification (2/6),necrosis or cystic degeneration(1 3/1 5),hemorrhage (8/1 5)and flow void signal (1 1/1 3)were seen.Twelve lesions showed significantly heterogeneous enhancement and 7 lesions showed irregular ring-enhancement.The solid parts in 5 lesions showed hyperintensity on diffusion-weighted imaging. Preoperatively,the lesions were misdiagnosed as glioma in 10 cases,ependymoma in 2 cases,meningioma in 1 case and germ cell tumor in 1 case, respectively;and 1 case was not diagnosed definitely.Conclusion Supratentorial PNET in adults has characteristic CT and MRI features,and the main reasons accounting for misdiagnosis are its extraordinary low incidence and that radiologists do no master its imaging features.