MRI lesions in younger healthy adults.

MRI lesions in younger healthy adults We have read with interest the article about CNS lesions in chronic inflammatory demye-linating polyneuropathy (CIDP).' The author's findings were based on clinical, electrophysiological, and MRI investigations. They found MRI lesions in nine of 21 patients under the age of 50. This age dependent analysis was introduced by the authors as it is well known that MRI lesions are quite common in older healthy subjects. Even in younger normal subjects, however, such lesions may be more frequent than previously thought. We have investigated 32 healthy subjects (aged 20-50 years, mean age 31 years, 15 females, 17 males) for a comparison with a population of classic migraine patients.2 Seven of our control subjects had hyperintense lesions on MRI in T2-weighted images (figure). Four subjects had lesions and three more than 3 lesions. The largest lesion was smaller than 3 mm in four subjects and larger than 3 mm in the remaining. When our results are compared with those of Ormerod et al,' the incidence of MRI lesions did not differ significantly (table). Fisher's exact test for 2 x 2 tables: p = 0 097). TIhus the authors may still be correct in Table Incidence of hyperintense lesions on T2-we&ghted MRI in normal controls2 and CIDP! The figures indicate number ofpatients Lesions No Lesions Normal controls' 7 25 CIDP' 9 12 claiming that MRI lesions are common in CIDP. There is certainly a trend but there is no proof for this as yet. Small hyperintense lesions should be interpreted with caution so far as demyelinating disease is concerned even in younger adults. Involvement of the central nervous system in chronic in-flammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: a clinical, electrophysiological and magnetic resonance imaging study. in classic migraine? A study with magnetic resonance imaging findings. Stroke 1991 (in press). I was interested to hear of the surprisingly high prevalence of MRI-detected cerebral white matter abnormalities in the control subject studied by Ferbert and Thron. In 32 neurologically normal subjects aged under 50 years, they found hyper-intense lesions on T2-weighted images in seven subjects. Our experience of normal subjects in this age group has shown cerebral abnormalities of this nature in less than 5% of cases. Our studies were all performed on a 0 5 Tesla imaging system and it is possible that with advances in MRI imaging technology, an increased number of abnormalities will be detected in a variety of …