Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome and MRI: the "tiger's eye". One case.

The MRI exploration of a woman suspected, on clinical grounds, of having Hallervorden-Spatz disease (or rather syndrome) revealed, on T2-weighted sequences, the "tiger's eye" or "target" image of the pallidum described by previous authors: i.e. a high-intensity signal in the centre of a distinct low-intensity signal; it also showed an abnormal low-intensity signal of the substantia nigra. These changes are related to the iron deposits and neuro-axonal lesions which characterize the disease. The MRI semeiology of Hallervorden-Spatz disease has been analyzed in the literature. The images we obtained in this patient with the echo-gradient technique using T1-weighted sequences were unusual, showing a low-intensity signal of the globi pallidi surrounded by central and peripheral low-intensity signal areas, whereas the images obtained with spin-echo T1-weighted sequences were normal.