CNS Vasculitis in Autoimmune Disease: MR Imaging Findings and Correlation with Angiography

We studied 18 patients with CNS vasculitis associated with autoimmune disease, characterized the MR lesions by type, size, number, and location, and correlated the MR findings with those of angiography.

All patients with CNS vasculitis had abnormalities on MR studies. On average, four +/- two lesions per patient were detected on MR images. The lesions were located in the subcortical white matter (n = 20), cortical gray matter (n = 16), deep gray matter (n = 16), deep white matter (n = 9), and cerebellum (n = 9). Only 65% of MR lesions were evident on angiograms; 44% of the lesions revealed on angiograms were detected by MR.