Magnetic resonance imaging in tuberous sclerosis

Twenty-five patients with tuberous sclerosis were studied with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and these findings were compared with those of computed cranial tomography (CCT) and with the clinical severity of the disease. Multiple high-signal MRI lesions involving the cerebral cortex are characteristic of tuberous sclerosis and probably correspond to the hamartomas and gliotic areas seen pathologically. These cortical lesions were only occasionally seen with CCT. The periventricular calcific lesions characteristic of tuberous sclerosis are better visualized with CCT than with MRI, but the larger periventricular calcifications produce low-signal MRI abnormalities. Seven patients had high-signal MRI lesions of the cerebellum; small calcific cerebellar lesions were also noted with CCT in three patients. As in earlier studies, no clear correlation was seen between the number of abnormalities visible with CCT and the clinical severity of the disease. By contrast, the more severely affected patients tend to have a higher number of cerebral cortical lesions detected with MRI. Thus, MRI may be useful in predicting the eventual clinical severity of younger children with newly diagnosed tuberous sclerosis.