Fetal exposure to anticonvulsant drugs. Detailed pathological study of a case.

Autopsy findings are discussed of a 23-month-old child exposed in utero to anticonvulsant therapy. Major abnormalities were confined to the heart and brain. The former consisted of massive biventricular hypertrophy with chamber obliteration. Except for generalized cerebral gliosis, the abnormalities in the brain were confined to the cerebellum, where malformation of the dentate nuclei, neuronal heterotopias, and abnormalities of Purkinje's cell dendrites were found. These findings lend further evidence for anticonvulsant teratogenicity.