[Study of diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging in Wilson's disease].
We analyzed diffusion weighted magnetic resonance images (diffusion MRI) of the basal ganglia, which were obtained from four patients with Wilson's disease, and compared them with the images from ten age-matched normal individuals. In all patients, T2-MRI of the basal ganglia disclosed low or iso-signals, but diffusion MRI revealed abnormal high signals in some areas of the basal ganglia in each case. Pathological changes except for copper and/or iron deposits are difficult to estimate by T2-MRI because the low signal on T2-MRI emphatically reflects the deposits, while the abnormal high signal on diffusion MRI is thought to reflect parenchymal lesions such as cell loss, demyelination and/or increase of the extracellular fluid. From our results, we confirmed that diffusion MRI was very useful for estimating parenchymal lesions with metal deposits.
Kishibayashi
J
J
Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Toho University School of Medicine.
Segawa
F
F
Kamada
K
K
Sunohara
N
N
D000328:Adult; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006527:Hepatolenticular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male