Central pontine myelinolysis: magnetic resonance imaging

Three patients with central pontine myelinolysis underwent MRI study. The first case, with a good outcome, had small pontine lesions. The second, with incomplete recovery, showed large pontine lesions; and the third, who died showed severe brain-stem involvement. MRI showed central pontine myelinolysis as lesions with low signal on T1-weighted images and high signal on T2 weighting without contrast enhancement. The severity of the clinical picture was proportional to the extension of the lesions.