Methanol poisoning: characteristic MRI findings

Acute methanol intoxication is not an unusual poisoning. It can have serious neurological sequelae. We emphasize how neuroimaging can help in distinguishing methanol poisoning from other causes of acute unconsciousness in alcoholic patients such as hypoglycemic brain damage and carbon monoxide poiso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAnnals of Saudi medicine Vol. 33; no. 1; pp. 68 - 69
Main Authors Jain, Nirdesh, Himanshu, Dandu, Verma, Shailendra Prasad, Parihar, Anit
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Saudi Arabia KING FAISAL SPECIALIST HOSPITAL & RESEARCH CENTRE 01.01.2013
King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre
Subjects
Acids
Adult
Alcohol
Alcoholism - complications
Brain damage
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning - diagnosis
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning - etiology
Case Report
Diagnosis, Differential
Drug dosages
Ethanol
Head injuries
Hemorrhage
Humans
Hypoglycemia - etiology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Male
Medical imaging
Metabolism
Metabolites
Methanol - poisoning
Neuroimaging - methods
Patients
Putaminal Hemorrhage - diagnosis
Putaminal Hemorrhage - etiology
Respiration
Unconsciousness - etiology
India
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Summary:Acute methanol intoxication is not an unusual poisoning. It can have serious neurological sequelae. We emphasize how neuroimaging can help in distinguishing methanol poisoning from other causes of acute unconsciousness in alcoholic patients such as hypoglycemic brain damage and carbon monoxide poisoning or head injury, which are frequently observed in alcoholic patients and are also responsible for altered sensorium. The most important findings in MR brain imaging in methanol poisoning have been bilateral putaminal hemorrhagic necrosis. Other less common findings are subcortical and deep white matter lesions, cerebral and cerebellar cortical lesions, and midbrain lesions, cerebral and intraventricular hemorrhage, and even enhancement of necrotic lesions, we found almost the entire spectrum of MRI findings in this patient with methanol poisoning. Neurological sequelae can entail the course and prognosis in methanol poisoning. The patient died because of ventilator-associated pneumonia that developed in the course of prolonged hospitalization.
ISSN:0256-4947
0975-4466
DOI:10.5144/0256-4947.2012.26.5.1114