Bilateral middle cerebral artery thromboembolic occlusion. Could maternal hyperthermia be a detrimental factor?

Abstract

We describe a six-month-old girl with microcephaly, developmental delay, truncal hypotonia, left pyramidal signs, partial seizures and myoclonic spasms, born to a feverish mother. MRI showed bilateral vascular lesions in the territory of the middle cerebral arteries, prevalent in the right hemisphere, together with hypoplasia of the posterior part of the corpus callosum and Wallerian degeneration of the cerebral peduncle. There may be many reasons for these lesions. In the reported patient the presence of maternal hyperthermia could have exacerbated cerebral thromboembolic occlusion.