Diffusion-Weighted Imaging is Key to Diagnosing Specific Diseases

Abstract

This article reviews diseases for which persistent signal abnormalities on diffusion-weighted imaging are the key to their diagnosis. Specifically, updated knowledge regarding the neuroimaging patterns of the following diseases is summarized: sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease, and hereditary diffuse leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids-colony-stimulating factor receptors/adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia. In addition, their differential diagnoses; clinical manifestations; and pathologic, genetic, and imaging correlates are discussed.

Keywords: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; Diffusion-weighted imaging; Hereditary diffuse; Leukoencephalopathy with spheroids-CSF1R; Neuronal intranuclear inclusion body disease.