Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and MRI Tractography in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy-Like Syndrome

ABSTRACT

An 18-year-old woman underwent an uneventful ascending aortic aneurysm repair then developed progressive supranuclear palsy-like syndrome. Extensive neuroimaging including contrasted fat-suppressed cranial and orbital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MRI tractography, and functional MRI (fMRI) revealed no clear radiographic involvement except for a single tiny hypoechoic midbrain dot on the T2*-weighted gradient-echo imaging, which is not considered sufficient to account for the patient’s deficits. This case attests to the occult nature of this rare and devastating syndrome.

• fMRI
• gradient-echo imaging
• MRI tractography
• progressive supranuclear palsy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work was supported in part by an unrestricted grant from the Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York, USA.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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