Die klinische Manifestation von adulten Leukodystrophien ist oft unspezifisch, doch
kann die MRT bei der Sicherung der Diagnose helfen, vor allem in den Frühstadien der
Erkrankung bei präsymptomatischen Patienten und Trägern. In diesem Artikel wird ein
schrittweises Vorgehen bei der Diagnosesicherung von Leukodystrophien im Erwachsenenalter
in Form eines Algorithmus vorgeschlagen, um die Bandbreite der Differenzialdiagnosen
einzugrenzen.
Abstract
Leukodystrophies usually affect children, but in the last several decades, many instances
of adult leukodystrophies have been reported in the medical literature. Because the
clinical manifestation of these diseases can be nonspecific, MRI can help with establishing
a diagnosis. A step-by-step approach to assist in the diagnosis of adult leukodystrophies
is proposed in this article. The first step is to identify symmetric white matter
involvement, which is more commonly observed in these patients. The next step is to
fit the symmetric white matter involvement into one of the proposed patterns. However,
a patient may present with more than one pattern of white matter involvement. Thus,
the third step is to evaluate for five distinct characteristics – including enhancement,
lesions with signal intensity similar to that of cerebrospinal fluid, susceptibilityweighted
MRI signal intensity abnormalities, abnormal peaks at MR spectroscopy, and spinal
cord involvement – to further narrow the differential diagnosis.
Schlüsselwörter
Adulte Leukodystrophien - Differenzialdiagnose - MRT - diagnostischer Algorithmus
Keywords
Adult leukodystrophies - differential diagnosis - MRI - diagnostic algorithm