Computed tomography in Krabbe's disease: comparison with neuropathology

We report computed tomography (CT) appearance of two patients with Krabbe's disease. The most common findings included severe brain atrophy: an enlarged frontal extracerebral space, dilatation of ventricles, enlarged cisterns and enlarged cortical sulci. There was low attenuation in the corpus medullaris of the cerebellum, and symmetrical focal hypodensity in the central periventricular white matter. CT at the terminal stage (16 months) showed marked cerebral atrophy including flattening of the heads of caudate nuclei and widening of the third ventricles confirmed by a neuropathological study. There was relatively less low density on the white matter of Krabbe's disease compared with that of other leukodystrophies. These CT findings may be useful in the diagnosis. The relative lack of low density in the white matter of Krabbe's disease might be related to severe gliosis and reduced total lipid contents.