A Case of Measles Encephalopathy with Thalamic Lesion on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

ABSTRACT

We experienced a case of measles encephalopathy with thalamic lesion on magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) in a 12 year old boy. Measles symptoms such as fever, erythematous maculopapular rashes on whole body and cough with sputum appeared 4 days before neurologic signs such as agitation and drowsy-to-confused mentality. He showed remarkable motor dysfunction without evidence of sensory loss. MRI showed bilateral symmetrical T2/FLAIR hyper-intensities in both thalami, posterior putamina and brainstem. It also showed inhomogenous Gadolinium(Gd) enhancement. In his electroencephalogram(EEG), there was nonspecific cortical dysfunction. After 20 days of supportive care, his motor dysfunction improved to near-normal and follow-up MRI revealed nearly normalized thalamic region. Over this period, no sensory loss was noted. We report this case with review of related literatures.