The central nervous system in congenital heart disease

Abstract

A neuropathologic study of 100 total cases of congenital heart disease revealed that severe congestion or petechia was almost uniformly present in all cases. Focal necrosis was the single central nervous system finding limited to the operative group. Acute encephalomalacia occurred in both groups. In surgical cases, these acute anoxic episodes appeared to be related to inadequate cerebral oxygenation during the operative procedure. The remaining findings were common to both groups and included: patchy demyelination and gliosis, meningeal thickening, cerebral calcification, suppurative phenomena, cerebral telangiectasls, additional developmental anomalies, diffuse gliosis, and spongiosis of the pontine reticular formation.