Central nervous system complications and neuroradiological findings in children with chronic active Epstein–Barr virus infection

Abstract

Although many neurological complications have been described in acute Epstein-Barr virus infection, few reports have discussed the central nervous system complications in chronic active Epstein-Barr virus (CAEBV) infection. We retrospectively surveyed the medical records of 14 patients with CAEBV infection in our institute. Neuroradiological studies were performed in 10 of these patients. Five had no neurological symptoms, whereas two presented with posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, one presented with basal ganglia calcification, and one presented with falx cerebri hemorrhage. Although both of the posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome cases developed epilepsy several years after recovering from prolonged neurological deterioration, the others had no neurological sequelae. This study revealed that various central nervous system complications may occur during the clinical course in pediatric CAEBV patients.