Leukoencephalopathy with brainstem and spinal cord involvement and high brain lactate: report of three brazilian patients

• Autor(a) principal: Távora,Daniel Gurgel Fernandes
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Nakayama,Mauro, Gama,Rômulo Lopes, Alvim,Thereza Cristina de Lara, Portugal,Dalton, Comerlato,Enio Alberto
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2007000300028
• topic: leukoencephalopathy; brainstem; spinal cord; lactate

A novel leukoencephalopathy was recently identified based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) findings. Leukoencephalopathy with brainstem and spinal cord involvement and high lactate (LBSL) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by early onset of symptoms and slowly progressive cerebellar, pyramidal and spinal cord dorsal column dysfunction. MRI and ¹H-MRS typically show abnormalities within cerebral and cerebellar white matter, a characteristic involvement of brainstem and spinal cord tracts and elevated lactate in the abnormal white matter. We present three cases with characteristic clinical and neuroimaging findings of this disorder. Some additional unique findings of our patients are discussed, like distal motor neuropathy and elevated creatine kinase in the serum.