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Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis

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This is a child who presented with mental status

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changes and seizures and was suspected

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of having encephalomyelitis.

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Here we have the axial FLAIR images,

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the axial T2-weighted scan,

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the postgadolinium-enhanced scan

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through the axial plane.

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This patient shows a wide variety

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of abnormalities,

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including involvement of the medulla,

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involvement of the pons and

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left side of the midbrain,

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confluent areas in the temporal lobes,

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as well as in the subinsular regions.

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Large area of abnormality crossing

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the corpus callosum,

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as well as in the white matter

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of the left corona radiata.

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And then, there do appear to be

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cortical lesions as well.

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On this section on the right side,

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one also can see areas of involvement of

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the gray matter of the basal ganglia.

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This is what I'm talking about,

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these areas here,

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which appear to be within

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the putamen on the left side,

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and the globus pallidus and

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putamen on the right side.

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So we have a process

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which is multiple locations,

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which include classic deep gray matter,

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basal ganglia regions, as well as brain stem,

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as well as the white matter in a child.

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So looking back on the history,

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this patient did have an antecedent

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viral illness.

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Now, this is a little bit cheat,

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in that what child hasn't had a recent viral illness

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in the elementary school years?

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But nonetheless,

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this patient's ultimate diagnosis was indeed

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acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.

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If we look at the post-gadolinium-enhanced scans,

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you can see that just as with

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multiple sclerosis,

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there may be some enhancing and non-enhancing

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lesions in the brain.

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However,

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I would venture to say that this pattern of

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enhancement that we're seeing here will be very

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atypical for multiple sclerosis.

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Plus, the patient was younger than expected

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for multiple sclerosis.

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You can see an incidental arachnoid cyst.

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And here, a more solidly enhancing

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white matter lesion.

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So in the child who has gray matter

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and white matter lesions,

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you may have a relatively fulminant monophasic

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disorder of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis

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that can affect many of the same locations

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as multiple sclerosis.

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But in addition,

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the deep gray matter.

Report

Description

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Pediatrics

Neuroradiology

MRI

Brain

Acquired/Developmental

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