[High field magnetic resonance imaging in Wilson's disease]

Magnetic resonance imaging studies on 3 cases with Wilson's disease were performed, using high field magnetic resonance system of 1.5 tesla. All patients had neurological findings of tremor, rigidity, dystonia or dysarthria at onset. Two patients had been treated with D-penicillamine for 14 years and 7 years respectively, and one patient was not treated then. T2-weighted images revealed abnormalities of signal intensity in lenticular nucleus, thalamus, pulvinar, superior colliculus, lateral portion of substantia nigra, midbrain and pontine tegmentum, and cerebral and cerebellar white-matter. Especially noted were following three hitherto undescribed abnormalities; high signal intensity of globus pallidus which normally shows very low signal intensity, restoration of signal intensity of lateral portion of substantia nigra, and marked low signal intensity of pulvinar and superior colliculus.