title: [Cranial MRI findings in epileptic children].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the cranial MRI findings in childhood epilepsy and to detect the most frequent cerebral lesions in epileptic children in our region.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, 98 epileptic children were examined with 1 T MRI equipment between January 1997 and March 2001. T1-weighted sagittal, T2 and proton weighted axial and T2-weighted coronal MR images were obtained. Contrast-enhanced T1-weighted axial, sagittal and coronal MR images were also examined in patients with suspicion of infection or intracranial mass.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among a total of 98 patients, 65 (66.3%) had no pathological findings on MRI. The pathological findings were diffuse cerebral atrophy (18.4%), delay in myelination and dismyelination (12.4%), ischemia and infarct (8.2%), arachnoid cysts (6.2%), tumoral mass (5.1%), mesial temporal sclerosis (1.0%) and sequelae of kernicterus (1.0%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MRI has been found to be effective in the evaluation of cerebral structures and imaging the pathologies in the etiology of epilepsy and other lesions in childhood focal epilepsy. However, MRI does not always appear to be successful in detecting the epileptic focus.
authors.affiliation: Dicle Universitesi Tip Fakültesi Radyodiagnostik Anabilim Dali, Diyarbakir.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozateş
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Acar
authors.forename: Firat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Başak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003287:Contrast Media; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013687:Telencephalon / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media