Krabbe disease: specific MRI and CT findings.

In three patients with Krabbe disease (galactosylceramide lipidosis), CT and MRI patterns progressed with the evolution of the disease. At first, discrete and symmetric dense areas on CT were found in deep gray matter of hemispheres and brainstem, and also in periventricular and capsular white matter. MRI showed decreased T1 values with normal or slightly decreased T2 values in those areas and large symmetric "plaque-like" lesions with high T1 and T2 values in white matter of the centrum semiovale. Later, both CT and MRI revealed diffuse reduction in gray matter and, more profoundly, in white matter mass. These findings may alert clinicians to the possibility of Krabbe disease in infants with progressive encephalopathy.