[Pathologic anatomy of the central nervous system in subacute spongiform encephalopathy (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease)].

The analysis of 7 cases of subacute spongiform encephalopathy, the Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), is given. Three main morphological features are typical for this disease: spongiform change of the grey matter, progressive neuronal loss and proliferation of the astroglia cells. Unlike the other spongiform conditions, spongiform change in the CJD develops in neuropile of the brain grey matter. As a rule, the disease affects at first the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres, then subcortical nuclear groups, cerebellum and more rarely nuclear groups of the brain stem. The demyelinization of the white matter of the cerebral hemispheres is not obligatory for the CJD and appears in cases with a severe lesion of the grey matter.