[Neurological and neuroimaging studies of eclampsia]

Clinical and neuroimaging studies were made in twenty-one patients during the attack of eclampsia. Most frequent neurological signs and symptoms were the impairment of consciousness, headache, seizure and visual disturbance. Mean arterial blood pressure increased by 46 mmHg (n = 21) during the attacks. Eight of 9 patients studied by CT and/or MRI showed transient abnormalities on brain images during the attack in the occipital cortex, basal ganglia, and internal and external capsule. The findings were compatible with brain edema and were seen mainly in the white matter. Cerebral blood flow measured by SPECT method in one patient during an attack with visual disturbance showed increased blood flow in the occipital cortex. Acute increase in blood pressure, cerebral hyperperfusion and edema, similar to the pathophysiology of hypertensive encephalopathy, were considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of eclampsia.