Magnetic resonance angiography of primary varicella vasculitis: report of two cases.

Two patients with onset of hemiparesis 3 weeks following primary varicella infection demonstrated contralateral temporal lobe and basal ganglia infarctions on magnetic resonance imaging. In both cases, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) was performed and demonstrated flow abnormalities ipsilateral to the infarcts. Digital subtraction angiography was performed in one case; however, the findings were significantly less conspicuous than those of the MRA. MRA proved to be sensitive to the diagnosis of varicella-induced vasculitis in two consecutive cases and provided a noninvasive means of following the progression of the disease process in response to therapy.