Brain anatomopathological findings in neonates with congenital heart disease

Neonates with congenital heart disease can develop neurological problems, which is why it is important to know the time and extent at which these lesions occur in order to elucidate their causes and implications.

To describe brain morphological alterations in autopsies of neonates with congenital heart disease.

The cases of neonates with congenital heart disease and complete autopsy registered in the pathology department from 2009 to 2019 were included. Descriptive statistics were used with the calculation of frequencies and percentages.

Of a total of 21 patients, 61.9% were full-term males; median weight and age at admission were 2500 g and five days, respectively; mean hospital stay was seven days. The predominant heart disease was aortic arch pathology. Fifteen patients (71.3%) underwent surgery; 50% died of cardiogenic shock, 100% had hypoxic-ischemic brain lesions, 71% had incipient lesions, and 33.3%, parenchymal hemorrhage.

There are various risk factors for neurological damage in patients with complex congenital heart disease, which is impossible to be entirely controlled. This study allows us to know, for the first time in our milieu, the changes in the central nervous system that could exist in these patients.