Microcephaly with a simplified gyral pattern

• Severesevere microcephaly (evident on the sagittal images)
• simplified gyral pattern (few and shallow sulci)
• small thin corpus callosum with absent rostrum
• rather reduced volume of the white matter with diffuse hypomyelination (the hypomyelination corresponds to the patient's young age).

• Severesevere microcephaly (evident on the sagittal images)
• simplified gyral pattern (few and shallow sulci)
• small thin corpus callosum with absent rostrum
• rather reduced volume of the white matter with diffuse hypomyelination (the hypomyelination corresponds to the patient's young age).
• distended dural venous sinuses (normal for age)

Microcephaly with a Simplified Gyral Pattern (MSG) is a congenital disorder characterised by microcephaly and shallow (reduced number of) gyri.

Lissencephaly is similar to MSG however, in lissencephaly the cortex is thick showing an abnormal architecture, both features are usually absent in MSG

MSG may show corpus callosum hypogenesis or hypoplasia, hypomylination, or periventricular nodular heterotopia

Microcephaly is classified into:

• Primaryprimary: microcephaly with normal brain architecture. The cause is likely genetic. In some cases, this primary type may show a simplified gyral pattern without cortex thickening.
• Secondarysecondary: microcephaly secondary to cerebral cortical malformation (e.g. holoprosencephaly or lissencephaly). The cause is likely secondary to brain insultinsults, such as hypoxic ischaemic-ischaemic insult or infection, or metabolic disorder

The case is courtesy of Dr.Mostafa El Khashab, MD of radiodiagnosis