[Deep white matter hyperintensity in occipital lobe on T2 weighted magnetic resonance imaging].

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed in 270 patients with various neurologic complaints (1-15 Y) with a 0.5 tesla superconducting imaging system (MRT-50 A, Toshiba Co.) using a field echo sequence (TR/TE: 300 ms/14 ms) and a spine echo sequence (TR/TE: 2,000 ms/100 ms or 2,000 ms/120 ms, and 2,000 ms/30 ms). The slice thickness was 10 mm. Hyperintensity areas on T2-weighted images were noted at the occipital lobe in 33 patients (12.2%). Twenty-seven of them had hyperintensity within the deep white matter, which revealed iso- or hypointensity on T1-weighted images. The diagnosis for the 27 patients included medulloblastoma after multidisciplinary therapy (1), congenital heart disease (1), neurofibromatosis (1), tuberous sclerosis (1), congenital muscular dystrophy (1), congenital myotonic dystrophy (2), febrile convulsion (2), autism (3), epilepsy (9) and unknown causes (6). Because the hyperintensity areas are age-dependent, they may result from delayed myelination in the central nervous system.