Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography findings of Dyke-Davidoff-Masson-like syndrome in a cat.

Abstract

CASE REPORT: A 3.5-year-old spayed female Domestic Shorthair cat was evaluated for new onset seizures and lateralising signs indicative of a lesion in the right prosencephalon. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography of the head revealed hypoplasia of the right cerebral hemisphere and changes in the overlying cranium, including hyperostosis and expansion of the diploic space, resulting in an increased pneumatisation of the rostral bones of the cranium. A congenital injury to the cerebral hemisphere and secondary changes of the cranium in response to the decreased brain parenchyma was presumed. Similar changes have been previously recognised in human patients with unilateral anomalies of the cerebral hemispheres, termed Dyke-Davidoff-Masson syndrome (DDMS). CONCLUSION: The case presented is the first clinical and imaging description of a cat with a syndrome that closely resembles DDMS in humans. The description of the syndrome allows recognition of an additional differential for seizures in a young patient and informs the clinician of the imaging characteristics of the cranium seen with early loss of brain parenchyma.