Reduced Gray Matter Volume in the Frontotemporal Cortex of Patients with Early Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a persistent infection of the central nervous system by the measles virus. Patients in the initial stages of SSPE show behavioral symptoms and usually normal cranial MR imaging findings. We aimed to investigate the gray matter volume changes in patients with early SSPE.

Imaging of central nervous system viral diseases

“…Voxel‐based morphometery has demonstrated gray matter volume reduction in frontotemporal cortex of patients with SSPE without any apparent lesion on conventional MR imaging (72). Significantly decreased fractional anisotropy values are observed in periventricular white matter of all cerebral lobes with significantly increased mean diffusivity values in periventricular occipital and temporal white matter regions.…”

Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE): A Rare Case Report

“…In time, symmetric periventricular white matter changes become more prominent. However, more recently Aydin et al 9 described that MRI findings could be normal with SSPE.Treatment of SSPE is still on research. Antiviral agents, such as amantadine and ribavirin or imunomodulators such as isoprinosine, interferon, and immunoglobulin have been used.…”

Pathogenesis of Encephalitis

“…Although there was no correlation between the imaging features and focal EEG changes or the abnormal neurological findings, a significant association between visual deficits and parieto-occipital signal changes on MRI was found. In a more recent study (Aydin et al, 2009), 17 patients with SSPE who had a routine normal MRI and 30 healthy matched controls underwent T1-weighted magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo images. When optimized method of voxel-based morphometry performed across-sectional analysis were applied to search for gray matter volume differences between the patients and controls, a fronto-temporal reduction of the cortical gray matter was found in the patients,regardless of the duration of symptoms or the presence and nature of neurological deficits.…”