key: cord-0880329-2yeplzgu
authors: Ribeiro, Bruno Niemeyer de Freitas
title: Magnetic resonance imaging findings in diseases affecting the cranial nerves
date: 2022
journal: Radiol Bras
DOI: 10.1590/0100-3984.2022.55.1e1
sha: 73822159747911776d63e1de6c405bed5a7a25ed
doc_id: 880329
cord_uid: 2yeplzgu

nan

neoplastic causes of cranial nerve involvement, mainly because of the aging of the population and the consequent increase in the number of cases of cancer, especially leptomeningeal carcinomatosis with cranial nerve involvement (which is most common in cases of breast and lung cancer) and lymphoma.

Among demyelinating diseases and other diseases that affect the cranial nerves, the most common disabling disease of the central nervous system in young adults is multiple sclerosis. In patients with multiple sclerosis, involvement of cranial nerve nuclei can provoke symptoms that often mimic those of trigeminal neuralgia. It is therefore necessary to exclude multiple sclerosis in young patients, especially female patients, with symptoms suggestive of trigeminal neuralgia. In the context of demyelinating diseases and other diseases involving the cranial nerves, clinical and biochemical findings, as well as imaging findings (including those from modalities other than MRI), are quite useful in making a definitive diagnosis, such findings including symmetrical proximal and distal weakness with sensory loss, in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy; positivity for anti-aquaporin 4 antibodies, in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders; and typical chest computed tomography findings, in sarcoidosis.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, numerous neurological manifestations, including involvement of the seventh cranial nerve, were described as complications of the disease (12, 13) . Such manifestations were most often attributed to an immune-mediated injury rather than to direct viral neurotropism.

In conclusion, as suggested by Dalaqua et al. (6) , radiologists should be prepared to interpret neuroimaging findings in cases of cranial nerve involvement. Despite not being pathognomonic, such findings help narrow the differential diagnosis. Taken together with clinical and laboratory data, neuroimaging findings can also guide the final diagnosis and inform decisions regarding the therapeutic approach.

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