Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Brief Clinical Note

A case of idiopathic portal hypertension (IPH) with hypermanganemia presenting as spastic gait

Ruriko Obama, M.D., Hiroshi Tachikawa, M.D., Fumihito Yoshii, M.D., Tsuneyuki Takeoka, M.D. and Yukito Shinohara, M.D.

Department of Neurology, Tokai University School of Medicine

A 48-year-old women was admitted to our hospital because of gradually developed spastic gait. She showed spasticity of the lower extremities with mild weakness. Laboratory tests disclosed decreased WBC and platelet counts and mild increases of transaminase and total bilirubin. Blood manganese level was markedly increased (6.0 μg/dl). Abdominal ultrasound showed splenomegaly, and abdominal angiography showed a dilatation of the portal and paraumbilical veins. T1-weighted MR images showed high signal intensities at the bilateral globus pallidus and cerebral peduncles, and T2-weighted images showed high signal intensities at the bilateral deep white matter, posterior limbs of the internal capsule and right upper cervical spinal cord. Following the diagnosis of IPH, splenectomy was performed. The blood level of manganese decreased thereafter and her neurological deficits gradually improved. Hepatic diseases often show high signal intensities at the basal ganglia on T1-weighted images, and this seemed to be due to accumulation of manganese in our case. Because demyelination or axonal injury of the spinal cord are found in hepatic disease, we speculate that the high signal intensities at the spinal cord on T2-weighted images of our case reflect hepatic myelopathy, which may also be caused by high blood levels of manganese.

(CLINICA NEUROL, 42: 885|888, 2002)
key words: manganese, idiopathic portal hypertension (IPH), spastic gait, MRI, hepatic myelopathy

(Received: 22-May-02)