[Ischemic cerebral softening in newborn infants. Possible etiology of neonatal convulsive states]

Abstract

The authors report on 8 cases of full term neonates presenting, between the 8th and 72nd hours of life, with several often subintrant partial seizures, always in the same area for a given child. Pregnancy, delivery and the first hours of life had been normal. The first CT scan (performed a few hours to 3 days after the first fits) showed a triangular hypodensity with internal vertex, still observed at the second examination, with reduced dimensions and fuzziness of the edges. The features and localization, always in an elective arterial area, suggested an arterial infarction. The date of occurrence, the probably embolic nature and the etiology of such an arterial ischemia are discussed. The clinical, electric and CT-scan homogeneity of the picture is emphasized, as it makes diagnosis easy. Prognosis is relatively favorable among neonatal seizures states, except for possible intellectual and epileptic sequellae.