title: The use of susceptibility-weighted imaging for epileptic focus localization in acute-stage pediatric encephalopathy: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Susceptibility-weighted imaging is a novel high-spatial-resolution three-dimensional gradient-echo magnetic resonance imaging technique with phase postprocessing that accentuates the paramagnetic properties of blood products. The use of susceptibility-weighted imaging for epileptic focus localization in the acute stage of encephalopathy in a child has not been documented.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report three pediatric patients with status epilepticus in the setting of fever, in whom susceptibility-weighted imaging showed transient prominence of the focal venous vasculature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Conventional cranial T1- and T2-weighted images and diffusion-weighted images showed no abnormalities. The prominence of the focal venous vasculature in these patients, as demonstrated by susceptibility-weighted imaging, was consistent with the epileptic focuses suggested by both clinical symptoms and electroencephalograph findings and resolved completely without neurological sequelae in all patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Susceptibility-weighted imaging may facilitate assessing epileptic focus localization in the acute stage of encephalopathy in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo General Hospital, Japan. Electronic address: ilsayakkum@ae.auone-net.jp.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo General Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo General Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo General Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsujioka
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo General Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo General Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuhiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo General Hospital, Japan; Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Nihon University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujita
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D019349:Roseolovirus Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003294:Seizures, Febrile / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013226:Status Epilepticus / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: child; encephalopathy; febrile seizure; status epilepticus; susceptibility-weighted imaging