PUERPERAL ECLAMPSIA

Abstract

The clinical picture of puerperal eclampsia undoubtedly suggests a severe toxic state. Such a view is amply confirmed by the histologic observations of the condition of the visceral organs—the liver and especially the kidneys. Reports of detailed histopathologic studies of the central nervous system are scarce. As Dr. R. H. Jaffé gave me the opportunity to make a study of five cases of puerperal eclampsia, I am reporting here briefly the results of my observations on the changes in the central nervous system. REPORT OF CASES Case 1. —Multipara; eclampsia in labor; death seven hours after delivery. Edema and rarefaction of the brain; degenerative changes of ganglion cells; progressive (proliferative) reaction of the glia, blood vessels and meninges; increase in the microglia; glial nodule in medulla with mild perivascular infiltration. History. —A white woman aged 33 was admitted to the Cook County Hospital on June 15, 1933, in a stuporous