[MRI in the diagnosis of congenital white matter diseases and other neurodegenerative diseases].

The results of cranial magnetic resonance imaging in 76 children (aged 3 weeks--17 years) with neurometabolic or other neurodegenerative diseases are presented. The number of diagnosed diseases was 22. MR symptomatology of 11 of them is presented. The list of characteristic images includes metachromatic leukodystrophy, mucopolysaccharidoses, X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, Leigh, Menkes and Pelizaeus-Merzbacher diseases, glutaric aciduria type I, Canavan disease, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, Hallervorden-Spatz and Huntington diseases. The diagnosis of neurometabolic/neurodegenerative diseases cannot be based on MRI alone but in some of them (metachromatic leukodystrophy, adrenoleukodystrophy, Leigh and Menkes diseases, glutaric aciduria type I, Canavan and Hallervorden-Spatz diseases) MRI can strongly suggest the diagnosis.