Multicystic encephalomalacia due to fetal viral encephalitis

Developmental anatomy of the thalamus, perinatal lesions, and neurological development

The thalamic nuclei develop before a viable preterm age. GABAergic neuronal migration is especially active in the third trimester. Thalamic axons meet cortical axons during subplate activation and create the definitive cortical plate in the second and third trimesters. Default higher-order cortical driver connections to the thalamus are then replaced by the maturing sensory networks, in a process that is driven by first-order thalamic neurons. Surface electroencephalographic activity, generated first in the subplate and later in the cortical plate, gradually show oscillations based on the interaction of the cortex with thalamus, which is controlled by the thalamic reticular nucleus. In viable newborn infants, in addition to sensorimotor networks, the thalamus already contributes to visual, auditory, and pain processing, and to arousal and sleep. Isolated thalamic lesions may present as clinical seizures. In addition to asphyxia and stroke, infection and network injury are also common. Cranial ultrasound can be used to classify neonatal thalamic injuries based on functional parcelling of the mature thalamus. We provide ample illustration and a detailed description of the impact of neonatal focal thalamic injury on neurological development, and discuss the potential for neuroprotection based on thalamocortical plasticity.

Multicystic encephalomalacia: An autopsy report of 4 cases

Multicystic encephalomalacia is varying sized cystic lesions in the brain encountered in developing fetuses or infants. These cysts start at the periventricular area and may extend onto the cortex. The cause of the formation of these cystic lesions is secondary to an ischemic or hypoxic insult, which leads to liquefactive necrosis and subsequent formation of gliotic cyst walls having an admixture of microglia. We discuss four autopsy cases that had multicystic encephalomalacia to highlight the scenarios in which these lesions are encountered.

Multicystic encephalomalacia in an adult case of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome: a case report

It is well known that multicystic encephalomalacia results in a severe neurological deficit and psychomotor retardation. The authors reported the case of a 30-year-old man with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome who had multicystic encephalomalacia in CT and MRI but whose neurological deficit was not serious. It is possible that the forceps delivery caused MCE and that a vaccination against Japanese encephalitis at the age of 9 triggered the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

Subarachnoid cyst with hydrocephalus--a complication of mid-trimester amniocentesis

We report a child with a subarachnoid cyst with hydrocephalus following a mid-trimester amniocentesis. Although fetal trauma is a rare complication, it is important to stress the need to perform amniocentesis under ultrasound control. Children with neurological disease or convulsions of unknown origin in early infancy who are born to mothers who have had mid-trimester amniocentesis should have a CT scan as part of the investigations to exclude this rare but nevertheless important complication.

Multicystic encephalopathy--a polyetiologic condition in early infancy: morphologic, pathogenetic and clinical aspects

Eleven observations of severe multicystic encephalopathy ( MCE ) in young infants and in a two-year-old child provide the basis for a summing-up and discussion of the various aspects of this characteristic polyetiologic phenomenon occurring in early infancy. In all cases the triggering causes or underlying disorders were different, although in five cases the common pathogenetic mechanism was a disturbance of circulation and/or respiration (acute respiratory distress syndrome). In two cases the basic disorders were a suppurative and a granulomatous meningoencephalitis. Carbon monoxide poisoning had occurred in one and diffuse meningocerebral angiomatosis in another two cases. In the eleventh case, one of a complicated twin birth, the exact cause of the MCE remained obscure. These cases together with those recorded in the literature demonstrate that the surprisingly constant pattern of damage in MCE , which results from different etiologic conditions, should be due to a specific mode of reaction of the infantile brain to a common pathogenetic mechanism. Anoxia with hypercapnia and the formation of brain edema are discussed as the basic events in the pathogenesis of MCE .