MRI diagnosis of cortical development malformation

Objective To summarize the features of cortical development malformation(CDM)on MRI to improve the ability of diagnosis and differential diagnosis.Methods Clinical data and MRI appearances of 105cases with CDM were analyzed retrospectively.Results In all 105cases,there were polymicrogyria in 39cases;gray matter heterotopia in 32cases;schizencephaly in 18cases;pachygyria in 10cases;agyria in 3cases;hemimegalencephaly in 3cases.Pachygyria showed abnormally broad and flattened gyria with thickened cortical gray matter and reduced white matter.Gray matter heterotopia appeared as nodules,masses or bands located in white matter or periventricular regions,with identical signal intensities to the normal gray matter on all MRI sequences.Gray-matter-lined lefts witch went through cerebral hemispheres from ventricle to hemispheric surface as characteristic imaging appearance of schizencephaly;In agyria the cerebral hemisphere was similar to the kidney in morphology,the surface of cerebral hemisphere was smooth,cortical sulci were shallow with thickened cortex and thin white matter.In hemimegalencephaly,the affected hemisphere was larger and the non-affected side smaller in comparison with normal children.The most typical appearance showed the cortex to be dysplastic with broad gyri,shallow sulci,blurring of the cortical-white matter junction,and cortical thickening.Conclusion MRI is an important tool for diagnosis of CDM since it demonstrates the features of this disease,and improves the accuracy of the diagnosis.