Open AccessSymptoms of degeneration of the pyramidal tracts in conventional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging in a young woman with primary lateral sclerosis
Author(s) -
Sławomir Budrewićz,
P. Szewczyk,
Krzysztof Słotwiński,
Magdalena Koszewicz
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of postgraduate medicine/journal of postgraduate medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.405
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 0972-2823
pISSN - 0022-3859
DOI - 10.4103/0022-3859.150901
Subject(s) - medicine , diffusion mri , pyramidal tracts , spinal cord , magnetic resonance imaging , decussation , fractional anisotropy , tractography , corticospinal tract , multiple sclerosis , upper motor neuron , anatomy , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , pathology , radiology , disease , psychiatry
Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is one of the forms of motor neuron disease (MND), affecting only upper motor neurons. The diagnosis of PLS should be made on different diagnostic criteria, for example, Pringle or Gordon, but it is usually a diagnosis of exclusion. There are no characteristic findings in standard laboratory and electrophysiological assessment. We present details of a 31-year-old woman who had suffered from progressive paraparesis with right-side predominance. Conventional MRI of brain and spinal cord and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies showed Hyperintense lesions in the upper part of the cervical spinal cord at the level C1 in lateral funicules, in the medulla oblongata at the pyramidal decussation and in the midbrain. Brain DTI revealed changes along the corticospinal tracts on fractional anisotropy (FA) maps. MRI of the thoracic spinal cord showed in T2-weighted images hyperintensive regions in the course of the lateral corticospinal tracts. This aided in PLS recognition.