Background: Rasmussen encephalitis (RE) is a rare devastating disease of childhood causing progressive neurological deficits and intractable seizures, typically affecting one hemisphere. Characteristic MRI features include progressive unihemispheric focal cortical atrophy and grey- or white-matter high-signal changes and basal ganglion involvement, particularly of the caudate nucleus.
Objective: To analyse the pattern of involvement of different brain structures in a series of patients with RE and to attempt clinical correlation.
Materials and methods: We reviewed the medical records and neuroimaging data of 12 patients diagnosed with RE satisfying the European Consensus Statement diagnostic criteria.
Results: The disease manifested as seizures in all patients and was refractory; epilepsia partialis continua was a notable feature (nine patients). Hemiparesis of varying grades was noted in all but one patient; none had extrapyramidal signs. Neuroimaging showed cortical involvement in the insular/periinsular regions in 11 patients. Caudate atrophy was noted in ten patients. Putaminal atrophy was seen in nine patients, six of whom had additional hyperintense signal changes.
Conclusions: Our study highlights frequent putaminal atrophy and signal changes in RE, which suggests a more extensive basal ganglion involvement than emphasized previously. Recognition of putaminal changes may be a useful additional tool in the radiological diagnosis of RE.