Magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of benign macrocephaly in children

Benign macrocephaly of infancy is a common problem in the child neurology p ractice. The radiologic features of this entity are not well defined. In mo st of the previous studies, macrocephalic patients were evaluated by comput ed tomography. To define the radiologic characteristics of this entity, 20 children with macrocephaly with normal neurologic examinations were enrolle d in the study. All the patients were evaluated by magnetic resonance imagi ng studies. Sixty-five percent of patients had enlargement of the subarachn oid space and 35% of patients had megalencephaly. None of the patients had subdural collections. The mean age of patients with enlargement of the suba rachnoid space was found to be younger than those with megalencephaly. The cases with parental histories of macrocephaly demonstrated both enlargement of the subarachnoid space and megalencephaly. Our results suggest that the radiologic finding of benign macrocephaly can be both enlargement of the s ubarachnoid space and megalencephaly.