CENTRAL PONTINE MYELINOLYSIS AND MEDULLARY MYELINOLYSIS

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 100  (5) , 246-252
Abstract
Central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) is a rare, acute and uniformly fatal demyelinative process that involves the pons almost exclusively. Three cases diagnosed at autopsy illustrate the characteristic clinical course and pathologic features of CPM. A unique extrapontine location of a similar process was noted in the medulla of a 6 yr old girl. The term medullary myelinolysis is a descriptive designation for demyelination that occurs predominantly in this area. The clinical and pathologic features of CPM are reviewed in detail, together with a brief review of theories of metabolic, nutritional, vascular and endogenous and exogenous toxic factors that act either singly or in concert in the cause and pathogenesis of CPM.

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