Neuroimaging findings in patients on immunosuppressive therapy: experience with tacrolimus toxicity.

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to describe the neuroimaging (CT and MR imaging) findings in liver transplant patients who develop severe neurologic side effects during immunosuppressive therapy with tacrolimus and to correlate these findings with clinical signs and tacrolimus levels in blood.Brain CT and/or MR imaging was performed on six patients who developed neurologic symptoms while receiving tacrolimus in the post-transplant period. All patients were evaluated by the neurology staff, and imaging studies were independently interpreted by three neuroradiologists. Trough tacrolimus levels in blood were measured with the IMX immunoassay and were correlated with neurologic symptoms and imaging findings.Imaging abnormalities were observed in five of six patients during the course of their neurologic illnesses. For each patient, neurologic symptoms began when the tacrolimus level in blood was at a peak, exceeding the therapeutic limit in all but one case. In five patients, neurologic symptoms eventually resol...

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