Unusual forms of inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system

Background White matter lesions of the central nervous system (CNS) are frequently encountered on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams. If the morphologic findings, clinical symptoms and laboratory results are not typical for one of the more common inflammatory CNS diseases, the diagnosis may become challenging, which also means that interesting and sometime emotional discussions may arise. Objective While frequent causes of inflammatory CNS diseases were already discussed in a previous article, we now focus on more seldom forms and place attention on morphologic characteristics which may help to find the correct diagnosis.