title: Initial and follow-up brain MRI findings and correlation with the clinical course in Wilson's disease.
abstract: We performed pretreatment brain MRIs in 25 patients with neurologically symptomatic Wilson's disease (WD) and clinical and MRI follow-up in 16 of them. All 25 pretreatment MRIs revealed abnormalities, with abnormal high-signal intensity (HSI) in bilateral thalami being the most common (92%). HSI lesions in the brainstem (84%) and the basal ganglia (72%) were also common. Brain atrophy was present in 88% of the 25 patients. In the follow-up period of 5 to 24 months, during which the patients were treated with D-penicillamine, both HSI lesions and neurologic symptoms improved in 88% of the 16 patients, but the brain atrophy did not change.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Seoul National University, College of Medicine, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Roh
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Wie
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006527:Hepatolenticular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male