Brain abnormalities in male children and adolescents with hemophilia: detection with MR imaging. The Hemophilia Growth and Development Study Group

• Published in: Radiology Vol. 185; no. 2; p. 553
• Main Authors: Wilson, D A, Nelson, Jr, M D, Fenstermacher, M J, Bohan, T P, Hopper, K D, Tilton, A, Mitchell, W G, Contant, Jr, C F, Maeder, M A, Donfield, S M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.11.1992
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Atrophy; Brain - pathology; Brain Diseases - diagnosis; Cerebral Hemorrhage - pathology; Child; Hemophilia A - classification; Hemophilia A - pathology; Hemophilia B - pathology; HIV Seropositivity; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Neurologic Examination; Prevalence; Seizures - pathology; von Willebrand Diseases - pathology
• ISSN: 0033-8419
• DOI: 10.1148/radiology.185.2.1410372

Cranial magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed in 124 male patients (aged 7-19 years), from 14 institutions, in whom a diagnosis of moderate to severe hemophilia was made. Blood tests in all subjects were negative for human immunodeficiency virus. Findings in MR studies were abnormal in 25 (20.2%) subjects. Six lesions in five subjects were classified as congenital. The most commonly identified congenital lesion was a posterior fossa collection of cerebrospinal fluid (five cases). Twenty-two subjects had acquired lesions that were probably related to the hemophilia or its treatment. The most commonly acquired lesions were single- or multifocal areas of high signal intensity within the white matter on T2-weighted images noted in 14 (11.3%) subjects. Two subjects had large focal areas of brain atrophy, and six had some degree of diffuse cerebral cortical atrophy. Three subjects (2.4%) had hemorrhagic lesions. To the authors' knowledge, the unexpected finding of small, focal, nonhemorrhagic white matter lesions has not previously been reported.