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Case - Osmotic Demyelination Syndrome (Stroke Mimic)

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Osmotic demyelination syndrome,

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or central pontine myelinolysis can also mimic stroke.

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These patients have profound hyponatremia.

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Frequently, their alcoholics are debilitated,

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and then they have rapid correction of sodium.

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The patients present with encephalopathy,

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pseudo bulbar palsy, spastic quadriparesis,

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sometimes even coma.

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There's oligodendrocyte injury

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and there's restricted diffusion

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due to myelin vacuolization.

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It involves the central pons,

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there can also be extra pontine locations.

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Frequently, the deep gray nuclei

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and subcortical white matter.

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So, here are images of central pontine myelinolysis.

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You have this classic central pons involvement

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with restricted diffusion.

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And just by contrast, this is what an acute

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infarct usually looks like.

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It's usually in the hemipons,

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not in the central pons.

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This is an example of osmotic demyelination syndrome,

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also known as central pontine myelinolysis

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and extra pontine myelinolysis.

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And these are images of a 46-year-old female,

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alcoholic, who was found with altered mental status

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and severe hyponatremia.

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And then, she had rapid correction of her sodium

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and progressed to a comatose state.

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These are the diffusion weighted images

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and the ADC maps.

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And you can see this classic central

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pontine restricted diffusions.

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It's been called a trident configuration

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in the central pons,

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again, that it's indistinction to a hemipons lesion,

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which is what you would see with infarct.

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And then, this patient also has involvement

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of her bilateral lentiform nuclei,

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her caudate nuclei, and the bilateral thalami.

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Let's take a look at the FLAIR images.

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There's extensive FLAIR hyperintensity

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in the same lesions.

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Again, the central pons and the deep grey nuclei,

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including the lentiform nucleus,

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the caudate nucleus, and thalami.

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And this is a classic case of

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osmotic demyelination syndrome.

Report

Faculty

Pamela W Schaefer, MD, FACR

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chair of Education

Massachusetts General Hospital

Tags

Vascular Imaging

Neuroradiology

Neuro

Metabolic

MRI

Head and Neck

Brain

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