Neonatal Brainstem Infarction

Abstract

Facial diplegia and horizontal ophthalmoplegia were the manifestations of pontine infarction, which occurred in a newborn male infant as a complication of surgical correction of coarctation of the aorta. Neurologic abnormalities lessened during the ensuing few months, but the patient aspirated and died at 3 months of age. Although extensive bilateral cystic infarcts of the cerebral hemispheres were also found, the clinical findings were largely determined by the pontine infarction. The diagnosis may be overlooked in a sick infant if the doll's eye maneuver and cold caloric stimulation are not performed. REPORT OF A CASE A 1,720-g male infant was born after a 37-week pregnancy. On the seventh day of life, irritability and cyanosis appeared. The pulse rate was 152 beats per minute, and respirations were 84/min. The BP was 86/36 mm Hg in the upper extremities but was intermittently obtainable in the lower extremities. There was a gallop