Index by author

The authors used DTI to study posttraumatic white matter changes over a 5-year period. Thirteen patients with severe injuries acutely showed significant fractional anisotropy decreases in the corpus callosum and corona radiata when compared with controls. These abnormalities progressed at 2 years and then remained stable until 5 years. The DTI abnormalities correlated with sequelae such as amnesia, aphasia, and dyspraxia.

These authors sought to characterize white matter lesions of elderly adults and determine if some were artifacts. Using FLAIR they imaged 665 subjects without dementia, carefully measured and evaluated periventricular white matter lesions, and correlated these with several aspects of cardiovascular disease. They concluded that periventricular white matter hyperintensity levels, distribution, and association with risk factors and disease suggest that in old age, these are true tissue abnormalities and therefore should not be dismissed as artifacts.

Voltage-gated potassium channel complex encephalitis is a common form of autoimmune encephalitis presenting with intractable seizures that may respond to immunotherapy. These authors reviewed the imaging findings in 42 such patients and the most common abnormalities noted were enlargement, T2 hyperintensity, contrast enhancement, and restricted diffusion in the mesial temporal lobes with subsequent development of hippocampal atrophy. Because the disease can be confirmed easily by the presence of voltage-gated potassium channel complex antibodies, these imaging findings should prompt serologic testing.