MRI follow-up of basal ganglia involvement in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

A 12-year-old male with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is presented. M agnetic resonance imaging revealed basal ganglia involvement without white matter changes for several months. Basal ganglia changes are not infrequent in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, but they tend to appear in advance d clinical stages. Prominent basal ganglia involvement may occur very rarel y in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. In our patient, serial magnetic r esonance imaging demonstrated the involvement of white matter after 2 years of magnetic resonance imaging follow-up. In contrast with the neuroradiolo gic progression, our patient's clinical status remained stable, (C) 2001 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.