Dawson fingers
Last revised by Yoshi Yu on 7 Mar 2023
Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data
Citation:
Raz E, Yu Y, Saber M, et al. Dawson fingers. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 05 Oct 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-1202
Permalink:
rID:
1202
Article created:
2 May 2008,
Eytan Raz
Disclosures:
At the time the article was created Eytan Raz had no recorded disclosures.
View Eytan Raz's current disclosures
Last revised:
7 Mar 2023,
Yoshi Yu ◉
Disclosures:
At the time the article was last revised Yoshi Yu had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.
View Yoshi Yu's current disclosures
Revisions:
11 times, by
11 contributors -
see full revision history and disclosures
Systems:
Sections:
Synonyms:
- Dawson's fingers
Dawson fingers are a radiographic feature of demyelination characterized by periventricular demyelinating plaques distributed along the axis of medullary veins, perpendicular to the body of the lateral ventricles and/or callosal junction. This is thought to reflect perivenular inflammation. They are a relatively specific sign for multiple sclerosis.
Radiographic features
MRI
T1: low signal in chronic lesions; otherwise usually isointense to white matter
T2/FLAIR: linear or ovoid high signal
T1C+ (Gd): enhancement can be seen with active lesions
History and etymology
Dawson fingers are named after Scottish pathologist James Walker Dawson (1870-1927 3) who described the phenomenon on histopathological specimens in an article in 1916 2, although the term "Dawson fingers" was brought forward by Charles Lumsden.
References
- 1. Tan IL, van Schijndel RA, Pouwels PJ et-al. MR venography of multiple sclerosis. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2000;21 (6): 1039-42. Pubmed citation
- 2. Dawson JD. The Histology of Disseminated Sclerosis. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 1916;50:517-740
- 3. James Walker Dawson. 1870-1927J. Pathol. 1928;31:117-121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/path.1700310111. [no author in the citation]
- 4. Ruth Geraldes, Olga Ciccarelli, Frederik Barkhof, Nicola De Stefano, Christian Enzinger, Massimo Filippi, Monika Hofer, Friedemann Paul, Paolo Preziosa, Alex Rovira, Gabriele C. DeLuca, Ludwig Kappos, Tarek Yousry, Franz Fazekas, Jette Frederiksen, Claudio Gasperini, Jaume Sastre-Garriga, Nikos Evangelou, Jacqueline Palace, on behalf of the MAGNIMS study group. The current role of MRI in differentiating multiple sclerosis from its imaging mimics. (2018) Nature Reviews Neurology. 14 (4): 199. doi:10.1038/nrneurol.2018.14 - Pubmed
- 4. Aparna Katdare, Meher Ursekar. Systematic imaging review: Multiple Sclerosis. (2015) Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology. 18 (5): 24. doi:10.4103/0972-2327.164821 - Pubmed
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Articles:
Cases:
- Multiple sclerosis and left optic neuritis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis - brain and spine
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Wallerian degeneration in multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis - Dawson fingers
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis - Dawson's fingers
- Multiple sclerosis - black holes
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis: advanced
- Multiple sclerosis with active lesions
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple sclerosis
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