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MOJ
eISSN: 2379-6294

Toxicology

Editorial Volume 2 Issue 2

Toxic leukoencephalopathy

Hossein Sanaei Zadeh

Department of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Correspondence: Hossein Sanaei-Zadeh, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, Tel 7143918796

Received: July 14, 2016 | Published: July 19, 2016

Citation: Sanaei-Zadeh H. Toxic leukoencephalopathy. MOJ Toxicol. 2016;2(2):44. DOI: 10.15406/mojt.2016.02.00033

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Editorial

Leukoencephalopathy means the disease of the cerebral white matter. Therefore, this disease can affect visual, motor and sensory systems. Additionally, Leukoencephalopathy can involve cognitive and emotional activities. The clinical manifestations of this disease depend on the affected part of the cerebral white matter and its intensity. The clinical manifestations include a spectrum ranging from inattention, forgetfulness and personality changes, which could be mistaken for psychiatric problems, to more severe cases such as muscle spasms, hemiparesis, dysarthria, ataxia, dementia, stupor, coma and death.1 There are different toxic factors causing toxic Leukoencephalopathy, for example, chronic use of ecstasy, heroin, cocaine, ethanol and methadone, as well as methadone or heroin overdoses.1–4

The diagnosis of toxic Leukoencephalopathy is based on clinical manifestations along with changes in brain white matter observed in the brain T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).1 Therefore, any neurological disorder, behavioral change, inattention, forgetfulness, and psychiatric disorder such as depression or anxiety observed in individuals using ecstasy, heroin, cocaine, ethanol and methadone, or any early or late abnormal psychiatric or neurological findings after recovery from heroin or methadone overdoses, can be due to toxic Leukoencephalopathy and for the diagnosis, a brain T2-weighted MRI from the patient should be provided. There is no treatment for toxic Leukoencephalopathy. In some cases, this disease is reversible and patients can be recovered spontaneously from toxic Leukoencephalopathy after some months. Some researchers recommend the administration of corticosteroids, antioxidants such as coenzyme Q (30mg QID), vitamin E, and vitamin C (each 2000mg QD) as a treatment for toxic Leukoencephalopathy.4

Acknowledgements

None.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

References

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©2016 Sanaei-Zadeh. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.