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The Neuropathology of the So-called Alpha-Pattern Coma

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Basic Mechanisms of the EEG

Part of the book series: Brain Dynamics ((BD))

Summary

The neuropathological findings in the brains of six patients with a socalled alpha coma are presented, affirming that the main prerequisite for the development of the alpha-coma pattern is to be seen in widespread neuronal necroses in the neocortex.

In an associated morphometric investigation of neuronal neocortical necroses in 24 patients who had died at intervals of 1 to 7 days after an hypoxic-ischemic event, it is shown by means of a morphometric variable (F(x) value) that the ischemic alterations of the nuclei of cortical neurons develop during the several days with considerable variability.

Based on this finding and on the quite similar time course of the concentration of cell death-related enzymes in the cerebrospinal fluid, it is concluded that the alpha-coma pattern also emerging during the first 4 to 5 postischemic days may reflect a protracted form of neuronal death, as described to occur in the hippocampus. Implications concerning the electrogenesis of the alpha-coma pattern are discussed.

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Authors
  1. Rudolf Laas
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  2. Thorsten Rosenkranz
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  3. Stephan Zschocke
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neurologische Univ-Klinik, Eppendorf, D-2000, Hamburg, Germany

    Stephan Zschocke

  2. Institut für Physiologie, Universität Münster, D-48149, Münster, Germany

    E.-J. Speckmann

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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Laas, R., Rosenkranz, T., Zschocke, S. (1993). The Neuropathology of the So-called Alpha-Pattern Coma. In: Zschocke, S., Speckmann, EJ. (eds) Basic Mechanisms of the EEG. Brain Dynamics. Birkhäuser, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0341-4_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0341-4_15

  • Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-6715-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-0341-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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