Multiple Cystic Softening of the Brain in the New Born*

Abstract

A case of disseminated encephalomalacia with multiple cavity formation is described. There was no history of cerebral birth injury or of asphyxia neonatorum and careful study disclosed no vascular injury or thrombosis. The suggestion is offered that damaged myelin itself liberates a lytic ferment, the activity of which is in most pathologic processes neutralized or checked in some way by the action of the oligodendroglia. If these are diseased or defective, the myelin destruction can spread unimpeded.