[Clinicopathological report of cisplatin encephalopathy]

A 61-year-old woman was treated with cisplatin and etoposide for ovarian carcinoma. After the second course of chemotherapy she developed acute encephalopathy which manifested itself as headache, fever, a partial seizure, confusion, and mild right hemiparesis, although no evidence of a central nervous system infection was found. Ten days after the onset of neurological symptoms, she experienced a sudden loss of vision in both eyes. Neurological findings were compatible with cortical blindness. Neurological symptoms subsided and visual acuity completely returned over the next months. The total cumulative dose of cisplatin was 325 mg/m2. She died of aspiration pneumonia on the 43rd day. Postmortem examination revealed severe nerve cell loss, gliosis and spongy changes in the bilateral occipital cortex including visual field, and slight to moderate demyelination in the subcortical white matter of the occipital cortex, Goll's tract, and dorsal root ganglia. As far as we know this encephalopathy is the second report in which the neuropathological changes associated with cisplatin therapy have been demonstrated by autopsy findings. The first was a case report of leukoencephalopathy, which differed significantly from our case in the primary lesions of the brain. We measured the platinum level in several parts of the cerebrum and cerebellum, optic nerve, spinal cord, and cauda equina by using an atomic absorption spectrophotometric technique. Platinum was detected in the bilateral occipital cortex, spinal cord, and cauda equina. These results were consistent with the distribution of pathological lesions. The mechanism of cisplatin-induced focal encephalopathy remains speculative.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)