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Review
. 2019 Feb 28;6(3):189-198.
doi: 10.1002/mdc3.12734. eCollection 2019 Mar.

Animals in the Brain

Eoin Mulroy  1 , Bettina Balint  1   2 , Matthew E Adams  3 , Tom Campion  3 , Marcelo Merello  4   5 , Kailash P Bhatia  1
Affiliations
Review

Animals in the Brain

Eoin Mulroy et al. Mov Disord Clin Pract. .

Abstract

Background: Pareidolic associations are commonly used in medical education to enhance perception of radiological abnormalities. A number of animal-inspired neuroradiological pareidolias have been defined which should alert clinicians to specific movement disorder diagnoses.

Methods: A review of the published literature detailing neuroradiological abnormalities in movement disorder syndromes was conducted, looking specifically for established animal-inspired pareidolic associations.

Results: A number of animal-inspired neuroradiological patterns with specific movement disorder associations have been defined. These include eye of the tiger sign, face of the panda sign, swallow tail sign, hummingbird sign, Mickey Mouse sign, ears of the lynx sign, dragonfly cerebellum, tadpole sign, tigroid/leopard skin sign, and bat wing sign.

Conclusion: Pareidolias represent a quick and easy way of enhancing perception, thereby improving the efficiency and accuracy of image analysis. Movement disorder physicians should keep in mind these associations, given that they will likely facilitate scan analysis.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease; neuroimaging.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Eye of the tiger sign: neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation type 1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Face of the giant panda (image A) and panda cub (image B) sign: Wilson's disease.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Absence of swallow‐tail sign: PD (tails of swallow denoted by red arrows).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Hummingbird sign: PSP.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mickey Mouse sign: PSP.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Ears of the lynx sign: HSP 11 + 15.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Dragonfly‐like cerebellar pattern: pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 2.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Tadpole sign‐adult‐onset Alexander disease.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Tigroid and leopard skin pattern: metachromatic leucodystrophy.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Bat wing fourth ventricle (image A): Joubert syndrome; bat wing sylvian fissure (image B): glutaric aciduria type 1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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