[MRI findings of olivopontocerebellar atrophy and Machado-Joseph disease--diagnostic value of transverse pontine fibers].

Olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA) and Machado-Hoseph disease (MJD) occasionally show similar clinical signs and symptoms, which makes differential diagnosis of OPCA and MJD difficult. In 1990, Savoiardo et al. reported that the transverse pontine fibers of OPCA patients had high signal intensity on T2 weighted MR images. To determine if the high signal intensity of the transverse pontine fibers is useful for the differential diagnosis of OPCA and MJD, we examined this abnormal intensity in patients diagnosed as OPCA or MJD. We observed the high intensity of transverse pontine fibers in all of the 18 OPCA patients. This finding, however, was not observed in any of the patients with the MJD. The high signal intensity of the transverse pontine fibers in T2 weighted images is characteristic of OPCA patients. Furthermore the atrophy of pontine tegmentum is characteristic of patients with MJD. These findings correlate well with pathological findings of OPCA and MJD, indicating the usefulness of these MRI findings for the differential diagnosis of OPCA and MJD.