Brain maturation and damage in infants dying from chronic pulmonary insufficiency in the postneonatal period.

The changes in the brains of 11 infants who survived from 29 days to 13 months after severe chronic pulmonary insufficiency are described. Brain maturation as assessed by myelination and gyral formation was within normal limits. In 5 infants the brain weight was less than normal if age was used in the comparison, but greater than normal if body weight was used. In addition to hypoxic or ischaemic damage, which was found in some degree in all cases except one, there were several other local lesions. These included periventricular leucomalacia 7, periventricular haemorrhage 1, hydrocephalus 2, and cystic encephalomalacia 3. Though the last is almost certainly due to vascular occlusion, this could not be shown. The possibility of cerebral embolism after umbilical vein catheterization is considered but not proven.