BRAIN MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IN NONALCOHOLIC CIRRHOSIS

Twenty-six patients with stable non-alcoholic cirrhosis and normal neu rological examination were investigated by brain MRI (inversion recove ry sequences) and compared with 16 controls. Brain MRI findings were c orrelated with the clinical and metabolic status of the patients and a nalysis of variance and, when necessary, co-variance was performed. Fi ve of the patients (19%) and all 16 controls showed no MRI changes. Tw elve patients (46%) showed moderately high signal in the globus pallid us (score 1), and nine (35%) very high signal (score 2). Analysis of v ariance showed that age was the only significant variable (P = 0.038). Analysis of co-variance after adjustment for age showed that high pal lidal signal was correlated only to ammonia level (P = 0.02) but not t o any other clinical or biological parameter. We conclude that T1 high intensity pallidal signal is common in non-alcoholic cirrhosis even w hen neurological examination is normal, but its significance remains u nclear.