Kachramanoglou Carolina

Biography

Dr Carolina Kachramanoglou is a consultant neuroradiologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

She completed her medical training at Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’, King’s College London and graduated in 2004 with MBBS and a BSc in neuroscience. She also completed an MD thesis on advance imaging of the spinal cord after complete brachial plexus avulsion injury, following studies at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (UCH) and the Institute of Neurology (UCL). Her expertise fields include adult and paediatric diagnostic neuroradiology, neuro-oncology, neurodegenerative disease, neuroinflammatory disease and image-guided diagnostic and therapeutic spinal injections

Keynote Lecture Abstract

Ambiguities and misconceptions in the imaging of cCMV

A lot of work has been undertaken in the recent years to establish ways to determine the spectrum of cCMV, both from the clinical and imaging and laboratory perspective. From the imaging point of view a number of structural and signal abnormalities have been found to be associated with cCMV, particularly when using MRI. This presentation aims to describe and illustrate the most specific findings in cCMV and to better characterise the more ambiguous imaging features. For example, there remain a number of unanswered questions regarding the cysts observed in the cCMV, such as the importance of size and location and the underlying pathophysiology and nomenclature (e.g. subependymal cysts/ germinolytic cysts). Parenchymal calcifications are one of the pertinent findings in cCMV. In our cohort of patients, calcifications are always seen in the presence of white matter signal abnormalities of different extent and severity, which is expected given they are thought to occur following a parenchymal insult. Therefore, they may represent the same pathophysiological process and suggest a degree of chronicity (i.e. infection in early gestation). Hence the absence of calcification does not exclude the presence of cCMV and the presence of WM signal abnormalities on MRI should bear heavier significance in the spectrum of disease. Furthermore, several malformations of cortical development are quoted in the literature related to cCMV infection. Yet to date, the vast majority of MR studies performed only demonstrate polymicrogyria. Cerebellar hypoplasia or dysfoliation remain poorly characterised.