MRI in neuro-Behçet’s disease: clinical correlation

We reviewed brain MRI patterns of 4 patients with neuro-Behcet’s disease and correlated them with the patients’ clinical status. The frequent neurological symptoms at the time of MRI were dysarthria, headache, motor weakness, diplopia, and ataxia (in order of frequency). T2-weighted axial images showed multiple, discrete or patchy high signal intensities in the brain stem (medulla, pons, midbrain), deep cerebral nuclei (thalamus, basal ganglia), centrum semiovale, corpus callosum, and other supratentorial grey and white matter. The frequently affected regions were pons (n=11) and lentiform nuclei (n= 11). During the initial neurological attack, anatomical regions of high-signal intensities were more widely distributed. The more the previous neurological insults, the less was the number of affected anatomical regions. The predominance of high signal intensities in the brain stem and deep cerebral nuclei with relatively scarce lesions in the cerebral hemisphere may suggest the possibility of central nervous system involvement in Beh c et’s disease patients. As well as the clinical settings such as severe headache, dysarthria and motor weakness, brain MRI may be a helpful aid in the diagnosis of neuro-Beh c et’s disease.