Capillary telangiectasia of the brain stem diagnosed by susceptibility-weighted imaging.

A case of brain stem capillary telangiectasia diagnosed by susceptibility-weighted imaging is reported. A small enhancing pontine lesion was found on postcontrast T1-weighted MR images in a 56-year-old woman with human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 infection. Imaging diagnosis was difficult with conventional MR imaging because the lesion did not show characteristic signal loss on conventional gradient-echo images. SWI was useful for imaging diagnosis as it demonstrated marked signal loss of the lesion.