Special Articles

MR imaging of central nervous system viral infection in pediatric age

Kumiko Ando, Reiichi Ishikura, Yusuke Kawanaka, Yoko Igarashi, Takayuki Katsuura,
Yuki Wakata and Koichiro Yamakado
Department of Radiology, Hyogo College of Medicine

Abstract
　Manifestations of central nervous system caused by viral infection are various including meningitis, encephalitis, myelitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and acute encephalopathy. Fortunately, unlike bacterial infection, viral infection causes relatively specific changes on MRI. That is, each virus affects specific sites in the central nervous system, mainly gray matter, and MRI especially diffusion weighted images (DWI) can visualize the affected sites. ADEM and acute encephalopathy also have characteristic findings on MRI. This educational article reviews the typical MR imaging findings of central nervous system viral infection.

Keywords：Pediatric, Central nervous system, Viral infection, MRI