MRI appearances of postpartum posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome

Abstract

Objective To investigate the MRI appearances of postpartum posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). Methods The clinical and radiological data of 8 patients with postpartum PRES were analyzed retrospectively, 5 cases were 1 week after postpartum,2 cases were 2 weeks afterpostpartum, 1 case was 4 weeks after postpartum. All cases underwent MRI examination, checking sequence included T,WI,T2WI,FLAIR,DWI,SWI, and 4 of them underwent MR venography (MRV). Results MRI showed basal bilaterally symmetrical distributions of lesions, mainly located in subcortex and cortex of cerebral hemisphere and predominantly in the occipital lobe,the lesions appeared as hyperintensity on FLAIR and T2WI,isointensity or mildly hypointensity on T1WI,hyperintensity on DWI. MRI in 8 patients demonstrated multiple lesions located in bilateral parietal lobe (8 cases),bilateral occipital lobe (8 cases), bilateral frontal lobe ( 4 cases ), bilateral temporal lobe (6 cases ), bilateral tempura-occipital lobe ( 8 cases),splenium of corpus callosum(l case), bilateral basal ganglia (l case), bilateral oval center( 1 case), bilateral cerebellar hemisphere (1 case), left frontal lobe hemorrhage (l case). Five patients' follow-up scan showed decreased or disappeared abnormal signals. Conclusion MRI examination scan identify the location, quality and degree, meanwhile, analyze the pathological foundation of postpartum PRES, which conduces to guiding treatment and preventing complication. Key words: Postpartum period; Brain diseases; Magnetic resonance imaging; Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome