{
  "abstract": "Hypertrophic olivary degeneration (HOD) is a delayed trans-synaptic consequence of injury to the dentato-rubro-olivary pathway – the Guillain-Mollaret triangle (GMT) – and represents one of the few conditions in which the inferior olivary nucleus (ION), a pivotal node of the olivopontocerebellar system, paradoxically enlarges rather than atrophies following disconnection. Its peak magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appearance closely mimics a primary brainstem neoplasm, and failure to recognize it has led to unnecessary biopsy in documented cases. We report a case of a 79-year-old man with uncontrolled hypertension who developed palatal tremor and contralateral cerebellar ataxia 7 months after a spontaneous left cerebellar hemorrhage. Brain MRI demonstrated T2/fluid attenuation inversion recovery hyperintensity with hypertrophy of the right ION, blooming at the left dentate nucleus, and no restricted diffusion – the full diagnostic triad of HOD, established on a single examination. Neoplasm was confidently excluded without biopsy. This case illustrates that systematic, anatomy-guided interpretation of multi-sequence MRI – anchored by knowledge of GMT connectivity – is sufficient for definitive HOD diagnosis from a single study, with particular relevance for elderly patients and resource-limited clinical settings in which olivary degeneration may otherwise be misattributed to recurrent cerebrovascular disease or primary malignancy.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Radiodiagnosis, Medanta, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India"
  ],
  "article_type": "case report",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Atul Kumar"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Pragya Chaturvedi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shrea Gulati"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Atishay Jain"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1qhq9q83ydc9y.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.4103/aam.aam_435_26",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13734651/",
  "id": "1qhq9q83ydc9y",
  "issns": [
    "1596-3519",
    "0975-5764"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.4103/aam.aam_435_26",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-SA 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Case Report"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2728|Neurological and metabolic disorders"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7166878542",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13734651",
  "pmid": "42381355",
  "published": "2026-06-30",
  "publisher": "Wolters Kluwer -- Medknow Publications",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1qhq9q83ydc9y.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-08T12:24:05Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13734651",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.4103/aam.aam_435_26"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2728|Neurological and metabolic disorders",
      "subfield": "neurology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "When Degeneration Masquerades as Disease: Diagnosing Hypertrophic Olivary Degeneration on a Single Magnetic Resonance Imaging Examination in an Elderly Patient with Posterior Fossa Hemorrhage",
  "title_text": "When Degeneration Masquerades as Disease: Diagnosing Hypertrophic Olivary Degeneration on a Single Magnetic Resonance Imaging Examination in an Elderly Patient with Posterior Fossa Hemorrhage",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T12:24:05Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1qhq9q83ydc9y",
  "venue": "Annals of African Medicine",
  "versions": []
}