[Abnormal CT brain scan during acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children]

The results of CT brain scans were evaluated in 96 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in different stages of the disease. Practically normal findings were recorded at establishing the diagnosis (17 children), with the exception of infiltration of the brain and meninges in one patient. Examinations performed after induction chemotherapy (31 children) revealed abnormal CT scans in 55% of the children concerning most frequently dilatation of the cerebrospinal fluid pathways and exhibiting less frequently hypodense foci in the white matter. At check-up examinations after 9 months (following prophylaxis of CNS leukemia) these deviations from the norm had disappeared in some patients, in others they persisted and in the rest of the patients they were found to be aggravated. Examinations carried out several years after treatment completion (40 patients) showed abnormal CR scans in 43% of the patients. These involved particularly derangements in the density of the white matter which were of leuko-dystrophic type and atrophic changes characterized by dilatation of the cerebrospinal fluid pathways. The recorded changes in the CT brain scans were more pronounced in patients with high-risk forms of leukemia and intensive prophylaxis of CNS leukemia.