Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. May 28, 2024; 16(5): 136-138
Published online May 28, 2024. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v16.i5.136
Is it a normal phenomenon for pediatric patients to have brain leptomeningeal contrast enhancement on 3-tesla magnetic resonance imaging?
Min Ai, Hang-Hang Zhang, Yi Guo, Jun-Bang Feng
Min Ai, Department of Anesthesiology, Nanan District People’s Hospital of Chongqing, Chongqing 400060, China
Hang-Hang Zhang, Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Chongqing Bishan District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Chongqing 402760, China
Yi Guo, Jun-Bang Feng, Medical Imaging Department, Chongqing University Central Hospital (Chongqing Emergency Medical Center), Chongqing 400014, China
Co-first authors: Min Ai and Hang-Hang Zhang.
Co-corresponding authors: Yi Guo and Jun-Bang Feng.
Author contributions: Ai M and Zhang HH have contributed equally to this study; Ai M and Zhang HH designed research; Ai M performed research; Zhang HH analyzed data; Ai M and Guo Y wrote the letter; Guo Y and Feng JB revised the letter and should be considered as co-corresponding authors.
Supported by the Chongging Medical Scientific Research Project (Joint Project of Chongqing Health Commission and Science and Technology Bureau), No. 2022QNXM013 and No. 2023MSXM016.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declared no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jun-Bang Feng, MM, Doctor, Medical Imaging Department, Chongqing University Central Hospital (Chongqing Emergency Medical Center), No. 1 Jiankang Road, Chongqing 400014, China. junbangfeng@163.com
Received: March 24, 2024
Revised: April 27, 2024
Accepted: May 15, 2024
Published online: May 28, 2024
Processing time: 60 Days and 16 Hours
Abstract

Determining whether sevoflurane sedation in children leads to “pseudo” prominent leptomeningeal contrast enhancement (pLMCE) on 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging will help reduce overdiagnosis by radiologists and clarify the pathophysiological changes of pLMCE.

Keywords: Pediatrics patients, Sevoflurane, Brain, Prominent leptomeningeal contrast enhancement, Magnetic resonance imaging

Core Tip: Prominent leptomeningeal contrast enhancement (pLMCE) often indicates the presence of intracranial infection, tumours, or other abnormal pathological changes. Researchers have frequently observed “pseudo” pLMCE in the brains of young pediatric patients anaesthetized with propofol during 3-tesla contra-spin echo T1-weighted imaging. This condition should not be misinterpreted as meningeal pathology. Currently, sevoflurane is a commonly used anaesthetic drug in pediatric patients. Therefore, it is important to identify the presence or absence of pLMCE during anaesthesia with sevoflurane to prevent misdiagnosis by radiologists and elucidate the physiological mechanisms associated with the anaesthesia process that led to pLMCE.