title: Infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy: clinical spectrum and diagnostic criteria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present clinical, neurophysiologic, and neuroradiologic findings in 13 patients with infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy (INAD), focusing on aspects that assist early diagnosis.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Clinicopathologic diagnostic criteria for INAD were delineated by Aicardi and Castelein in 1979, but atypical cases are reported frequently and little is known of the diagnostic utility of MRI.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors reviewed the clinical, neurophysiologic, and MRI findings of 13 patients who met the diagnostic criteria for INAD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Symptoms onset was between 6 months and 2 years of age. In nine patients the clinical course was typical, with rapid motor and mental deterioration; in four patients progression was slower and the clinical picture was different. Electromyographic (EMG) signs of chronic denervation, fast rhythms on EEG and abnormal visual evoked potentials were observed in all patients during the disease course. Cerebellar atrophy with signal hyperintensity in the cerebellar cortex on T2-weighted images were the most characteristic MRI findings; hypointensity in the pallida and substantia nigra was also observed in two patients. alpha-N-acetyl-galactosaminidase activity on leukocytes was normal in the 10 patients tested.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EMG and MRI abnormalities are the earliest and most suggestive signs of INAD, which has a clinical and radiologic spectrum that is broader than reported previously.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Neurology, National Neurological Institute Carlo Besta, Milan Italy.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nardocci
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zorzi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Farina
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Binelli
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Scaioli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ciano
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Verga
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Angelini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Savoiardo
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bugiani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D019150:Neuroaxonal Dystrophies / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*