Inherited white matter disorders in Japan: focusing on demyelinating leukodystrophy

We reviewed published articles on representative inherited cerebral white matter disorders that develop in childhood. In this paper, we described demyelinating disorders (adrenoleukodystrophy, globoid cell leukodystrophy or Krabbe disease, and metachromatic leukodystrophy), astrocytic disorders (Alexander disease and vanishing white matter disease), and disorders of water homeostasis in the myelin sheath (megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts and CLCN2-related leukoencephalopathy). The causes, symptoms, diagnostic imaging, and forefront of treatment for these disorders are discussed. Each disease is rare and progressive. Although the number of analyzed cases is very small, establishing a radical treatment is still necessary. We do hope that the patients with these disorders could be treated completely in the near future.