MRI and clinical analysis of 36 virus encephalitis cases

Objective:To investigate the MRI features and clinical characters of virus encephalitis.Methods:MRI and clinical manifestations of 36 patients with virus encephalitis confirmed clinically were analyzed on sagittal T 1WI,axial T 1WI,axial T 2WI and FLAIR sequences,30 of them with contrast enhancement examination.Results:30 of 36 cases were diagnosed as virus encephalitis by MRI.Their MR features included: slightly low or moderate signal intensity on T 1WI,slightly high signal on T 2WI and significantly high intensity on FLAIR.12 of 30 were confirmed as herpes simplex encephalitis.These lesions were distributed mainly over both frontal and temporal lobes and had a clear boundary with lenticula.Misdiagnosis cases included:cerebral infarction (2 cases),astroglioma (1 cases),gliomatosis (1 cases) and demyelinating lesions (2 cases).Conclusion:MRI can evaluate virus encephalitis and show the extent of lesion clearly.Some virus encephalitis cases with complicated MR features should be differentiated with other diseases.