Reversible splenial lesion syndrome with mental disorders as only manifestation

Reversible splenial lesion syndrome (RESLES) was reported to be associated with variable entities. However, much less is known about the cases in which the mental disorders act as the only manifestation.

Total ten patients of RESLES were obtained in this retrospective study from Shenzhen Kangning Hospital. T1-fluid attenuated inversion recovery (T1-FLAIR), T2-weighted images, T2-FLAIR, diffusion-weighted images and apparent diffusion coefficient map were performed on all the patients. Clinical manifestations, laboratory examination results, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, treatments and outcomes were analyzed.

All patients showed different mental disorders as the only manifestation. There were two cases of alcohol abuse, one of Asperger’s syndrome with malnutrition, one of infection and one of invasive pituitary adenoma. The other cases were diagnosis as major depressive disorder, dissociative and conversion disorders, undifferentiated somatoform disorder, unspecified psychosis and bipolar disorder, respectively. Three patients were completely recovered while the clinical symptoms of rest seven patients partially recovered at the follow-up three months later. Oval-shaped lesion centered on the splenial of corpus callosum (SCC) was observed in all patients using MRI. The lesions of SCC of all patients were completely resolved within five weeks.

We found that RESLES might only showed mental symptoms. On the one hand, for the patients with acute mental disorders, clinicians should be alert to the possibility of RESLES caused by physical disease. On the other hand, we suggest that mental disorder might be a precipitating factor of RESLES.