HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Petzold, G C Articles by Zschenderlein, R Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Petzold, G C Articles by Zschenderlein, R Related Collections Other Neurology

Adult onset leucoencephalopathy with brain stem and spinal cord involvement and normal lactate

¹ Department of Neurology, Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Germany (current address: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
² Department of Neuroradiology, Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Germany
³ Department of Neurology, Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Germany
⁴ Department of Child Neurology, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands
⁵ Department of Neurology, Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Germany

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Gabor C Petzold
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; gpetzold@mcb.harvard.edu

Keywords: leucoencephalopathy; brain stem

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Leucoencephalopathy with brain stem and spinal cord involvement and raised lactate (LBSL) is a white matter disease that has recently been described based on typical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings.^1,2 These include widespread, homogeneous or inhomogeneous white matter abnormalities, corpus callosum involvement, and selective involvement of certain brain stem and spinal cord tracts. Increased white matter lactate levels are usually found on magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Clinically, the condition is characterised by a childhood onset slowly progressive course. Here we report two patients who presented with adult onset LBSL and normal lactate on MRS.

Case report
A 23 year old woman and her 25 year old brother were referred to our department because of a slowly progressive gait disorder. At the age of 20 (in the female patient) and 23 years (in the male patient), the siblings had first noted an unsteady gait, stiffness in both legs, and bilateral clumsiness. They had . . . [Full text of this article]