[Neuroimaging in the diagnosis of human transmissible spongiform encephalopathies].

INTRODUCTION: The role of neuroimaging in the diagnosis of the Human Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (HTSE) has been changing from the exclusion of other conditions to the contribution of diagnostic data having incalculable utility, such as basal ganglia and cerebral cortex in different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences.
METHODS: Search in Medline. Reading and analysis of related papers.
RESULTS: There are alterations such as increased of the signals in the caudate nucleus, putamen and cerebral cortex in the sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) or increased signal intensity in the pulvinar for the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). These signals are associated with the molecular subtype in sporadic cases, stage and duration of the disease and with pathological findings.
CONCLUSIONS: Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is only currently included in the vCJD diagnostic criteria, it is a useful diagnostic test in the diagnosis of other HTSE, especially diffusion-weighted and FLAIR images.