AN AUTOPSY CASE OF ACUTE DIFFUSE LYMPHOCYTIC MENINGOENCEPHALITIS WITH DEGENERATION OF THE STRIATUM AND CEREBELLUM
An autopsy case of acute diffuse lymphocytic meningoencephalitis has been described. The patient was a 30-year-old woman who died after 2 months of the illness with characteristic psychotic symptoms and, later, involuntary movements and persistent coma. Neuropathological findings included only minimal perivascular infiltration of lymphocytes, diffuse scattering of rod-shaped microglia, occasional neuronal shrinkage, and distinctive degenerative changes of the corpus striatum and cerebellum. In the corpus striatum there were marked neuronal loss and astrocy tic proliferation. The cerebellum showed almost complete loss of Purkinje cells and concomitant proliferation of Bergmann's glia. These degenerative changes of the corpus striatum and cerebellum were thought to be caused at least partly by cerebral hypoxia during the illness.
