ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the clinical value of routine MRI and functional imaging modality in the diagnosis of neonatal hypoglycemic encephalopathy.Methods Twelve diagnosed cases of neonatal hypoglycemic encephalopathy were obtained.Routine MRI sequence and DWI and SWI were performed in all cases.The MRI findings of each sequence as well as the sensitivity and the effect of each sequence were analyzed.Results The lesions were mainly located in corpus callosum (1 2 cases)followed by white matter of occipital lobe,frontal lobe and temporal lobe.Bilateral symmetrical distribution was found in 6 cases.The lesions were manifested as dot and flake like shape with different sizes,low signal intensity in T1WI,high in T2WI,bright in DWI and low in ADC maps and low SWI signal lesions.The total number of lesions in each sequence were displayed as follows:31 lesions in DWI,10 lesions in FLAIR,9 lesions in T2WI,6 lesions in T1WI and 5 lesions in SWI.The signal values were 1 898.30±290.46 and 933.71± 450.34 in T2WI and DWI respectively.The signal to noise ratio in T2WI and DWI were 9.28±5.73 and 22.40±15.59 respectively, and the DWI contrast signal ratio was significantly higher than that of T2WI (F=7.48,P=0.012).Conclusion The signal features and distribution of MRI in neonatal hypoglycemic encephalopathy are characteristic.DWI is more sensitive than other sequences in displaying lesions and SWI sequence could detect micro hemorrhagic foci.MRI routine sequence with function imaging is a valuable method for the diagnosis of neonatal hypoglycemic encephalopathy.