ABSTRACT
Objective To study the clinical manifestation and MRI feature on toxic encephalopathy after inhaling and injecting heroin. Methods 4 patients with toxic encephalopathy induced by inhaling, injecting heroin were observed with clinical and MRI. Results The 4 patients were male, they all had definite addiction histories (the time of addiction for 4 months to 7 years), there were special language and retropulsive dystonia besides there were common characteristics of toxic encephalopathy: reaction retardation, disturbance of intelligence, MRI showed the change of generalized demyelination in bilateral symmetrical cerebral hemisphere, posterior limbs of internal capsule, corpus callosum, medial lemniscus, cerebellum hemisphere dentate nucleus. The clinical symptom of 1 patient treated by adrenocortical steroid disappeared nearly 11 months after the onset of disease, 2 patients’ condition was remitted 3 months after treatment, 1 patient with 7 years inhaling history died the 55th day after the deterioration of disease. Conclusion Clinical manifestation and MRI on toxic encephalopathy after inhaling and injecting heroin were known, so we could diagnose the patients of the disease in time.