CHANGES IN THE BRAIN IN PERTUSSIS WITH CONVULSIONS

Abstract

The occurrence of neurologic complications in the course of pertussis has been recognized in the second half of the past century. The symptomatology and the gravity of prognosis of these complications in young children have been largely agreed on. The study of pathologic changes in the brain in cases of pertussis with cerebral complications began essentially in the early part of this century. Various changes have been described by a number of authors, who gave different interpretations of the relation of the cerebral lesions to the pathogenesis of these complications. In some cases no pathologic changes were observed in the brain (Ford, 1 in 5 of 11 cases; Grenet and Mourrut, 2 in 12 of 15 cases). REVIEW OF LITERATURE The changes observed by the various authors may be classified roughly into three groups: ( a ) circulatory, ( b ) degenerative and ( c ) inflammatory. Circulatory Changes. —These include hemorrhages, vascular spasm and edema.