Usefulness of arterial spin labeling imaging, which contributed to the early detection of cerebellitis complicated by clinically mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion: Lessons from three cases.

BACKGROUND: Cerebellitis is a rare complication of clinically mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion (MERS); however, MERS with cerebellitis is associated with a higher risk of neurological sequelae in comparison to MERS alone. Although the disease is difficult to diagnose by conventional MRI in the early disease phase, arterial spin labeling (ASL), a noninvasive MRI perfusion technique using magnetically-labeled arterial blood water protons, is considered promising.

CASE REPORT: We experienced three cases of MERS with cerebellitis. Diffusion-weighted imaging showed a high-intensity lesion at the splenium of the corpus callosum. ASL showed increased blood flow in the cerebellum in all three cases, despite cerebellar symptoms being inapparent or difficult to notice in the early phase of disease in all cases. Patients received methylprednisolone pulse therapy and intravenous immunoglobulin from the early phase of the disease and recovered without neurological sequelae.

DISCUSSION: ASL magnetic response imaging simultaneously showed an area of hyperperfusion in the cerebellum. At the same time, the apparent diffusion coefficient of the splenial lesion was decreased in all three cases. The successful diagnosis of cerebellitis in the acute phase led to early therapeutic intervention, which may be important for this condition. We report the usefulness of ASL and review the relevant literature on MERS with cerebellitis.