Neuropathology of the convulsive foal syndrome

Abstract

Brains from eighteen Thoroughbred foals suffering from the convulsive foal syndrome were examined neuropathologically and compared with brains from nine foals dying from different causes. In the brains of nine convulsive foals there was necrosis of the cerebral cortex, accompanied in three by severe necrosis of the diencephalon and brain stem; haemorrhage into the cerebral cortex was also present in most of this group. In the other nine brains from convulsive foals there was haemorrhage, often severe, especially in the white and grey matter of the cerebral cortex and in the cerebellum. Minimal haemorrhage occurred in the brains of the control group of animals, except in that from one Caesarian-delivered premature foal that suffered severe haemorrhage into the brain stem and cerebellum. Both types of lesion in the convulsive foal appeared to be related to events occurring just before, during or after birth.