title: The spectrum of leukodystrophies in children: Experience at a tertiary care centre from North India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to retrospectively collect and then describe the clinico-radiographical profile of confirmed cases of leukodystrophy who presented over a 5-year period to a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India.
  
  
  METHODS
  The case records of 80 confirmed cases of leukodystrophy were reviewed and the cases have been described in terms of their clinical presentation and neuroimaging findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cases have been grouped into five categories: Hypomyelinating, demyelinating, disorders with vacuolization, cystic, and miscellaneous. The commonest leukodystrophies are megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC), Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), and metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD). A notable proportion of hypomyelinating disorders were uncharacterized.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Leukodystrophies at this point of time have no definite cure. They have a progressively downhill clinical course. Early diagnosis is imperative for appropriate genetic counseling. A simplified approach to diagnose common leukodystrophies has also been provided. It is important to develop a registry, which can provide valuable epidemiological data to prioritize research in this field, which has many unanswered questions.
authors: Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors: Sheffali
authors: S
authors: Gulati
authors: Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors: Puneet
authors: P
authors: Jain
authors: Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors: Biswaroop
authors: B
authors: Chakrabarty
authors: Department of Radiodiagnosis, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors: Atin
authors: A
authors: Kumar
authors: Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors: Neerja
authors: N
authors: Gupta
authors: Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors: Madhulika
authors: M
authors: Kabra
keywords: Clinico-radiological; cystic; demyelination; genetic counselling; hypomyelination; leukodystrophy