Application of MRI for clinical staging and classification of Japanese encephalitis in adult patients / 中华临床感染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in clinical staging and classification of adult Japanese encephalitis.Methods:The clinical data and craniocerebral MRI findings of 35 adult patients with Japanese encephalitis admitted in General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University from August to September 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. The MRI imaging characteristics were compared among patients with different stages and types, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC value) of thalamic lesions in patients of different stages was analyzed. SPSS 23.0 software was used to analyze the data.Results:Six moderate cases all had lesions involving the thalamus, and the number of intracranial lesions was <2. In 11 severe cases, 8 had lesions involving thalamus and 5 had lesions involving hippocampus; the number of intracranial lesions was <2 in 3 cases, the number of intracranial lesions was 2-4 in 3 cases, and the number of intracranial lesions was >4 in 5 cases. In 18 cases critical cases, the lesions involved thalamic in 14 cases, hippocampus in 14 cases, cerebral cortex in 14 cases, cerebral feet in 9 cases, basal ganglia area in 6 cases, and brain stem in 2 cases, respectively; 2 cases had the intracranial lesions <2, 6 cases had intracranial lesions 2-4, 10 cases had intracranial lesions >4. In 11 preliminary stage patients, 9 cases had DWI high signal and 2 had FLAIR slightly high signal; in 19 extreme stage patients, 16 cases had DWI high signal, 11 cases had FLAIR slightly high signal, 3 cases had T1WI high signal and 6 cases had T2WI high signal. In 5 recovery stage patients, 1 case had DWI slightly high signal, 5 cases had FLAIR high signal, and 1 case had T2WI high signal. The ADC values of thalamic lesions in recovery and extreme patients were higher than those in the preliminary stage ( q=3.931 and 4.012, P<0.05). The ADC value of thalamic lesions in the recovery period was higher than that in the extreme period ( q=3.372, P<0.05). Conclusions:The number of lesions and the range of involvement are associated with disease severity in adult Japanese encephalitis. The DWI sequence is easy to detect at early stage, and the FLAIR sequence shows a long time span of lesions; and the DWI and FLAIR sequences are of great significance for the early clinical staging and classification of adult encephalitis patients. At the same time, the ADC value shows a trend of disease progresses, which can be used as a supplement for the clinical staging in adult encephalitis patients.