Fucosidosis is a rare autosomal recessive disorder resulting from a deficie
ncy of alpha-L-fucosidase. In this report, we describe clinical and magneti
c resonance image (MRI) findings of a chronic infantile type patient hetero
zygous for a nonsense mutation and a large deletion. The disease onset occu
rred at 2-3 years of age. She was bound to a wheelchair at 6 years of age,
and developed dystonia at the age of 13 years. Brain MRI at 13 years of age
showed marked cerebral and cerebellar atrophy, high intensities in the whi
te matter of the frontal and occipital lobes, and low intensities of the bi
lateral thalamus, striatum, substantia nigra, red nucleus and mamillary bod
ies on T2-weighted images. The low intensities of basal ganglia on T2-weigh
ted images seems characteristic of lesions in fucosidosis. (C) 2000 Elsevie
r Science B.V. All rights reserved.