ACUTE DISSEMINATED ENCEPHALOMYELITIS (ADEM)

Key words: Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, Diagnosis, Treatment

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a rare acute inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. It affects children and young adults and is characterized by a wide range of multifocal neurological signs. It is usually a monophasic disease, but occasionally it can be multiphasic so that the differential diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) must be considered. We report the case of a 2-year-old child with sudden onset of neurological symptoms after a pharyngitis. The diagnosis of ADEM was made by magnetic resonance imaging that showed multiple high signal areas in the brain and in the spinal marrow. She was treated with high dose methylprednisolone for five days with a rapid improvement of neurological signs.