Imaging of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis

Neuroimaging Clin N Am. 2008 Feb;18(1):149-61; ix. doi: 10.1016/j.nic.2007.12.007.

Abstract

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a monophasic demyelinating disease of the central nervous system typically affecting the gray and the white matter of the brain and spinal cord in multiple locations. In the acute stages, ADEM is characterized histologically by perivenous edema, demyelination, and infiltration with macrophages and lymphocytes, with relative axonal sparing, whereas the late course of the disease is characterized by perivascular gliosis.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Encephalomyelitis, Acute Disseminated / diagnosis*
  • Encephalomyelitis, Acute Disseminated / etiology
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Neuroradiography
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed