Abstract
The medical records of 52 consecutive patients diagnosed with postinfectious encephalitis/encephalomyelitis
during the period from 1980 to 1998, including 29 males and 23 females, were reviewed.
These patients were divided into three groups according to their clinical and neurodiagnostic
characteristics: (1) group I: postinfectious encephalitis, 38 patients; (2) group
II: acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), 13 patients; (3) group III: multiphasic
disseminated encephalomyelitis (MDEM), one patient. Fever, headache/vomiting, seizure
and disturbance of consciousness were common clinical features in all patients, while
pictures of pyramidal, extrapyramidal, brainstem, and spinal cord lesions were more
often found in the group II and group III patients than in the group I patients. Magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) revealed abnormal lesions in six (60%) of ten group I patients,
but all group II (n=7) and group III (n=1) patients who received MRI study showed abnormal signals in various regions of
the brain including the cerebral hemisphere, basal ganglia, brainstem and cerebellum.
Patients with ADEM and MDEM had a longer clinical course and more neurological sequelae
than group I patients. This study demonstrates the breadth of the clinical spectrum
of postinfectious encephalomyelitis. Thorough clinical observations and appropriate
neurodiagnostic studies such as MRI are crucial for the diagnosis.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
December 6,
2000
Received in revised form:
December 6,
2000
Received:
August 8,
2000
Identification
Copyright
© 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
