[Sequential MRI in two cases with periventricular leukomalacia].

We investigated two children with cystic periventricular leukomalacia, which we had detected by ultrasonography (US) during the neonatal period, with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain at 4, 9, and 15 or 19 corrected months of age. Both inversion-recovery (IR) and T2-weighted spin-echo (SE) sequences were used for this study. We observed cysts involving the periventricular white matter at the region adjacent to bilateral frontal horns in case 1 and adjacent to the posterior horns of the lateral ventricles in case 2. MRI at 4 months showed the irregularity of the ventricular wall and delayed myelination, compared to that of an age-matched control. The T2-weighted SE and IR imaging at 9 months demonstrated abnormally increased signal in the white matter. These findings were more evident at the 3rd MRI examination. The location of end-stage periventricular leukomalacia lesions were consistent with the distribution of cystic lesions seen on US. MRI at sagittal sections was useful for the detection of main periventricular leukomalacia lesions. A possibility exists that MRI might be useful in detecting subtle lesions of periventricular leukomalacia in which we cannot find by US.