Basal ganglia T2 hyperintensity

The causes of basal ganglia T2 hyperintensity can be remembered using the mnemonic LINT:

• lymphoma
• ischemia
  • hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
  • venous infarction (internal cerebral vein thrombosis)
• neurodegenerative 
  • autoimmune encephalitis (e.g. anti-D2 dopamine antibody encephalitis)
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• metabolic
  • extrapontine myelinolysis
  • Huntington disease: especially caudate heads
  • methylmalonic acidemia
  • mitochondrial diseases (e.g. Leigh disease)
  • Wilson disease
  • hepatic encephalopathy
  • uremic encephalopathy
  • hypoglycemic encephalopathy
• toxins
  • carbon monoxide neurotoxicity
  • cyanide neurotoxicity
  • ethylene glycol neurotoxicity
  • methanol neurotoxicity
  • organophosphate neurotoxicity
• infections
  • flavivirus encephalitis
    • Japanese encephalitis
  • rabies encephalitis

See also

• basal ganglia signal abnormalities
  • decreased T2 signal in the basal ganglia
  • increased T1 signal in the basal ganglia
  • decreased T1 signal in the basal ganglia
  • restricted diffusion in the basal ganglia