Tumefactive Multiple Sclerosis Variants: Report of Two Cases of Schilder and Balo Diseases

A tumefactive lesion of central nervous system (CNS) is defined as a mass-like lesion with a size greater than 2 cm in brain detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Neuroimaging may help to distinguish the nature of a tumefactive lesion and therefore, can prevent an unnecessary brain biopsy. Here we emphasized on determining the nature of a CNS tumefactive lesions with the help of MRI and more explanations about demyelinating lesions with focus on Schilder and Balo diseases as two multiple sclerosis variants. We have reported here two boys of 10 and 8 years of age respectively of multiple sclerosis (MS) variants who presented with acute neurologic complications to our hospital as one of the two referral children hospital in Tehran, Iran. Tumefactive demyelinating lesions can be considered a separate entity that itself can contain Schilder disease, Balo disease, some cases of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) or classic MS. MRI can help to establish a diagnosis of a tumefactive lesion and to differentiate among different underlying etiologies.