Elsevier

Pediatric Neurology

Volume 2, Issue 5, September–October 1986, Pages 276-279
Pediatric Neurology

Original article
Bacterial meningitis as an etiology of perinatal cerebral infarction

https://doi.org/10.1016/0887-8994(86)90019-6Get rights and content

Abstract

Despite significant improvement in mortality rate, survivors of neonatal bacterial meningitis experience a significant incidence of neurodevelopmental sequelae. Neuropathologic studies have demonstrated vasculitis, arachnoiditis, and ventriculitis with secondary edema and encephalomalacia. Areas of cerebral infarction, most commonly thought to be venous in origin, have been reported as well. We performed cranial computed tomographic scans on all eight neonates with bacterial meningitis admitted to our Newborn Special Care Unit within the past 36 months and demonstrated abnormalities in seven. Six of these infants were found to have large areas of infarction related primarily to major arterial vascular distributions. We suggest computed tomographic studies for all neonates with bacterial meningitis and subsequent scans at 4–6 months of age in those with abnormal neonatal scans in order to plan better for early intervention services.

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This work was supported in part by grant 6-366 from the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation; White Plains, New York.

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