Absence of infratentorial lesions in Fabry disease contributes to differential diagnosis with multiple sclerosis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has been proposed as a possible differential diagnosis with Fabry Disease (FD). We evaluated the incidence of infratentorial lesions in FD patients, investigating whether their presence could help in differentiating these two conditions. We explored the diagnostic accuracy of this sign alone and in combination to the involvement of corpus callosum (CC). METHODS: White Matter lesions were retrospectively evaluated on FLAIR images available from 136 MS and 144 FD patients. Infratentorial involvement was assessed considering the whole cerebellum, and the part of the brainstem included between the occipital foramen and the upper edge of the red nucleus. Furthermore, the presence of callosal lesions was also recorded, evaluating the portion of CC included between the two external walls of the lateral ventricles. RESULTS: Infratentorial involvement was detectable in 119/136 (87.5%) MS patients, while it was present in only 17/144 (11.8%) FD patients. When the diagnostic performance of a positive infratentorial involvement was evaluated in combination with the presence of CC lesions, a specificity of 97%, with a positive predictive value of 96% was reached. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the absence of infratentorial lesions, especially when combined to the evaluation of other typical imaging features, can help in the differential diagnosis between MS and FD.