The use of susceptibility-weighted imaging for epileptic focus localization in acute-stage pediatric encephalopathy: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Susceptibility-weighted imaging is a novel high-spatial-resolution three-dimensional gradient-echo magnetic resonance imaging technique with phase postprocessing that accentuates the paramagnetic properties of blood products. The use of susceptibility-weighted imaging for epileptic focus localization in the acute stage of encephalopathy in a child has not been documented.

PATIENTS: We report three pediatric patients with status epilepticus in the setting of fever, in whom susceptibility-weighted imaging showed transient prominence of the focal venous vasculature.

RESULTS: Conventional cranial T1- and T2-weighted images and diffusion-weighted images showed no abnormalities. The prominence of the focal venous vasculature in these patients, as demonstrated by susceptibility-weighted imaging, was consistent with the epileptic focuses suggested by both clinical symptoms and electroencephalograph findings and resolved completely without neurological sequelae in all patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Susceptibility-weighted imaging may facilitate assessing epileptic focus localization in the acute stage of encephalopathy in children.