Uremic encephalopathy: A definite diagnosis by magnetic resonance imaging?


Submitted: 9 May 2022
Accepted: 18 June 2022
Published: 12 August 2022
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Authors

  • Farzad Sina Skull Base Research Center, The Five Senses Institute, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran; Department of Neurology, Firoozgar Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
  • Darya Najafi School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
  • Alireza Aziz-Ahari Department of Radiology, School of Medicine Hazrat Rasool General Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
  • Elham Shahraki Department of Internal Medicine, Ali Ibne Abitaleb Hospital, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
  • Tahere Zarouk Ahimahalle Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Hazrat Rasool General Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
  • Zeinab Namjoo Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran, Islamic Republic of.
  • Sajad Hassanzadeh Skull Base Research Center, The Five Senses Institute, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of.

The aim of this study was to investigate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings for the diagnose uremic encephalopathy and describe the usefulness of MRI findings in the ultimate diagnosis of uremic encephalopathy (UE). A total of 20 patients with uremic encephalopathy admitted to the hospital were evaluated in this prospective study. The clinical manifestations, laboratory and MRI imaging findings, demographic information, and clinical outcome were analyzed for each patient. We observed that the 20 prospectively reviewed patients with UE had no involvement of the basal ganglia or the lentiform fork sign (LFS). However, two-thirds of the patients had white matter involvement, and 80% of the subjects had cerebral or cortical atrophy. The arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis revealed that 50% of the patients suffered from metabolic acidosis (n=10). The results of the present study demonstrated that although the observation of Lentiform Fork Sign and Basal Ganglia involvement in MRI of UE patients is a specific finding the absence of which does not rule out UE. Thus, simultaneous examination of clinical manifestation and laboratory test analyses, along with imaging findings, should also be taken into account.


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Sina, F., Najafi, D., Aziz-Ahari, A. ., Shahraki, E., Ahimahalle, T. Z., Namjoo, Z., & Hassanzadeh, S. (2022). Uremic encephalopathy: A definite diagnosis by magnetic resonance imaging?. European Journal of Translational Myology, 32(3). https://doi.org/10.4081/ejtm.2022.10613

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