Neuropsychological significance of areas of high signal intensity on brain MRIs of children with neurofibromatosis

Of children with neurofibromatosis (NF), 40% have a cognitive or learning impairment. Approximately 60% also have anomalous areas of high signal intensity on T₂-weighted brain MRIs. The association of these hyperintensities and neuropsychological status is not fully understood. We administered a battery of neuropsychological tests and a standard clinical MRI to determine the impact of hyperintensity presence, number, and location on cognitive status in 84 children (8 to 16 years) with NF type 1. These children underwent standard clinical MRI using a GE 1.5-tesla scanner (except one child who was examined with a 1.0-tesla scanner). We conducted three types of analyses: Hyperintensity presence or absence. Scores of children with (55%) and without hyperintensities (45%) were compared using t tests. No statistically significant differences between groups in intellectual functioning or any neuropsychological variable were found. Number of hyperintensities-The number of hyperintensity locations per child ranged from one to five (mean = 2.22). Pearson correlations revealed no significant association between the number of hyperintensities and neuropsychological performance. Location of hyperintensities-In four of the five locations studied, no statistically significant differences were found between scores of children with a hyperintensity in an area and those with one elsewhere. However, mean scores for IQ, Memory, Motor, Distractibility, and Attention domains for children with hyperintensities in the thalamus were significantly lower than scores for those with hyperintensities elsewhere. These results suggest that the simple presence or absence of hyperintensities, or their total number, is not as important as their anatomic location for detecting their relationship with neuropsychological status. Taking location into account, hyperintensities in the cerebral hemispheres, basal ganglia, brainstem, or cerebellum seem to have no impact on neuropsychological functioning, whereas hyperintensities in the thalamus do.