Brain magnetic resonance imaging findings in 33 patients with neuromyelitis optica / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the brain magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)findings in 33 patients with neuromyelitis optica(NMO).Methods Patients who fulfilled the latest diagnostic criteria of NMO and whose brain MRI did not satisfied with diagnostic criteria of multiple sclerosis(MS)were enrolled.All the patients underwent brain MRI and spinal cord scannings and subsequent images analysis.Results Thirty-three patients with NMO were included to study.Five out of 33(15.2%)patients did not have brain parenchymal abnormalities,28 out of 33 patients(84.8%)were detected to have brain abnormal findings.Brain parenchymal lesions were well-defined in 22 patients(66.7%),no non-specific or atypical brain parenchymal lesions were found in the supratentorium or infratentorium in the other 6 cases(18.2%).However,brain MRI disclosed macroscopic,symmetrical diffuse FLAIR and T2-visible hyperintensity in deep white matter.Fifteen cases had more than one lesion(≥2 lesions),and the other 7 cases had single lesion.Supratentorial lesions were mostly punctate or small dots in nonspecific hyperintensity in juxtacortical,subcortical and deep white matter regions,a few were atypical patches.In the infratentorium,brainstem was an easily involved region(14/33,42.4%),especially in medulla(7/33,21.2%).Conclusions Brain MRI abnormalities are common in Chinese NMO,and brain lesions do not exclude the diagnosis of NMO.The observations of brain lesions are helpful to improve and revise diagnostic criteria of NMO.