A QUANTITATIVE-EVALUATION OF MAGNETIC-RESONANCE IMAGE SIGNAL CHANGES OF THE BRAIN IN CHRONIC HEPATIC-ENCEPHALOPATHY

Hyperintensity in the basal ganglia of patients with serious liver dis ease is a common finding on T-1-weighted magnetic resonance images. In this study, we used optical densitometry to quantitatively evaluate t he hyperintense magnetic resonance image signal changes in the various regions of the brain of patients with chronic hepatic encephalopathy. The incidence and morphological distribution of the magnetic resonanc e signal changes were evaluated from T-1-weighted magnetic resonance i mages of the brain from seven non-alcoholic patients and six healthy c ontrols. Significant differences (p<0.05) between the patient group an d controls were found in the limbic system (hippocampus, temporal lobe , cingulate gyrus, and fornix), extrapyramidal system and associated m yelinated pathways (lentiform nucleus, tectum, tegmentum, cerebral ped uncles, internal capsule and the corpus callosum). No measurable diffe rences were observed in the frontal, parietal, and occipital cortex, o r the dorsomedial thalamus. The presence of the high signal intensity changes on T-1-weighted magnetic resonance image suggests that charact eristic alterations occur in functional regions of the brain in chroni c hepatic encephalopathy. (C) Journal of Hepatology.