J. Sztajnbok et al., ACUTE DISSEMINATED ENCEPHALOMYELITIS - AN UNUSUAL CAUSE OF ENCEPHALITIC SYNDROME IN CHILDHOOD, Pediatric emergency care, 14(1), 1998, pp. 36-38
Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis is a rare central nervous system
demyelinating disease that occurs most frequently in children, It usua
lly runs a monophasic course, beginning with fever, headache, and meni
ngeal signs and rapidly progressing to coma when appropriate diagnosis
and treatment are not provided, We report a case of a 14-year-old pat
ient to alert emergency physicians to consider acute disseminated ence
phalomyelitis when presented with any child with encephalitic signs wi
th nonspecific cerebrospinal fluid findings, failure to detect any cau
sative agent, and only mild alterations on computerized tomography sca
n, The role of magnetic resonance imaging for the diagnosis is emphasi
zed.