MRI of cranial nerve enhancement: King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (KCMH) case series

Abstract

Abnormal enhancement of cranial nerves (CNs) can be observed in a variety of disease. We present eight
cases of cranial nerve (CN) enhancement, including inflammatory process, hematologic malignancy, perineural spreading of extracranial tumor, cerebrospinal fluid seeding of high grade primary brain tumor, demyelination and post radiation change. Based on our case series, the findings cover board differential diagnoses. The use of contrast enhanced 3-dimensional (3D) T1-weighted image (T1WI) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and reasonable MRI sequences can increase conspicuity of the finding. Furthermore, incorporating underlying disease, clinical duration, and associated intracranial / extracranial findings may help narrow the probable etiologies.