Morphologic correlates of age at death of infants with perinatal telencephalic leukoencephalopathy

The ages at death of neonates with various constellations of those abnormalities of cerebral white matter thought to represent a response to injury have been compared to determine the temporal relationships of the various morphologic expressions of perinatal telencephalic leukoencephalopathy. The maximum risk of hypertrophic astrocytes (HA) without amphophilic globules (GL) preceded the maximum risk of HA with GL. Of all infants with HA and GL, those without necrotic foci (NF) tended to die at a younger age than those with NF. These and other findings have been interpreted as evidence that perinatal telencephalic leukoencephalopathy may consist of several morphologic constellations whose differences may reflect variations in (a) the time of occurrence of an insult, (b) the duration of an insult or (c) the survival after an insult.

Custering of the morphological components of perinatal telencephalic leucoencephalopathy

The data upon which the original report of perinatal telencephalic leucoencephalopathy was based have been examined for clustering of the four criteria of neonatal white matter damage. Three clusters have been identified: (1) acutely damaged glia with amphophilic globules, (2) hypertrophic astrocytes and amphophilic globules but without necrotic foci, and (3) hypertrophic astrocytes and amphophilic globules with necrotic foci. The original report of perinatal telencephalic leucoencephalopathy therefore probably included two entities. One was characterized by acutely damaged glia and amphophilic globules and the other by hypertrophic astrocytes and amphophilic globules. The two entities do not occur together significantly more frequently than would be expected on the basis of the independent occurrence of each.

Median cerebrofacial dysgenesis

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