Imaging manifestations of sepsis‐associated encephalopathy

Abstract The purpose of this study was to retrospectively analyze the clinical and imaging data of sepsis‐associated encephalopathy (SAE) following infantile diarrhea. Eight infants were diagnosed with SAE after diarrhea and assessed using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The main symptoms present in each of the eight patients were fever, diarrhea, seizures, and changes in consciousness. From cranial CT examination, five patients showed normal results, two displayed cerebral edema, and one displayed slightly lower density areas in the frontal and parietal lobes. There were four patients examined through MRI: one patient displayed slightly widened cerebral sulci; two displayed edema in the white cerebral matter and basal ganglia with gyriform enhancement after contrast; one displayed an abnormal bilateral signal in the occipital lobes and another in the frontoparietal lobe; and one displayed a diffuse abnormal signal in the white matter of both cerebral hemispheres and basal ganglia. Imaging manifestations of SAE included encephaledema or abnormal signals in the white matter and basal ganglia. CT examination can exclude other cerebral pathologies causing brain dysfunction in early stages. MRI examination can provide more information to aid in the early diagnosis of SAE.