Cerebral Microbleeds Identified by Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging in Two Cases of Fabry Disease without Neurological Symptoms

Mineka Yamazoe¹, Masayuki Maeda^2*, Maki Umino¹, Hidekazu Tomimoto³, Hajime Sakuma¹

¹Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Mie University, Mie, Japan.
²Department of Advanced Diagnostic Imaging, School of Medicine, Mie University, Mie, Japan.
³Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Mie University, Mie, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/ojmi.2015.54024                

Abstract

Cerebrovascular disease is one of the fatal causes of Fabry disease (FD). Brain magnetic resonance imaging findings typically show lacunar infarcts in young patients with FD, but brain hemorrhages in FD are rarely reported. We report two cases of FD focusing on cerebral microbleeds (CMBs). Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) and T2*-weighted imaging reveal several lobar and deep CMBs in two patients with no medical history of stroke symptoms, hypertension, and anticoagulant/antiplatelet treatment. SWI can detect a greater number of CMBs than T2*-weighted imaging. Thus, SWI is an excellent tool for identifying underlying CMBs in FD.

Keywords

Fabry Disease, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging, Cerebral Microbleeds

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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