ADEM (Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis): MRI Diagnosis, CT Imaging Findings, Differential Diagnosis, and Modern Treatment
A Child Who Suddenly Could No Longer Walk Imagine being a healthy 10-year-old child. No chronic illness. No neurological disease. No significant medical history. Then, over only one week, your legs become weak. Walking becomes impossible. You begin experiencing numbness. Soon afterward, urinary retention develops. This alarming clinical scenario represents one of the most challenging emergency diagnoses in pediatric neuroradiology. The disease? Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM). Although rare, ADEM is a neurological emergency because delayed recognition may lead to irreversible neurological injury. Fortunately, modern medical imaging , especially MRI , enables radiologists to identify characteristic inflammatory demyelinating lesions before permanent damage occurs. The present case illustrates how radiology, pathology, and multidisciplinary treatment converge to establish the diagnosis and guide life-saving therapy. The patient's presentation, imaging findings, cerebros...