Relationship between abnormal respiratory control and perinatal brainstem and cerebellar infarctions.

Clinical and neuropathologic studies were performed in 5 infants who had brainstem or cerebellar infarction and respiratory control abnormalities during early infancy. The anatomic distribution of brainstem infarction was closely related to the failure of neural respiratory control as was unilateral cerebral hemorrhagic infarction to sudden death. Brainstem and cerebellar lesions may be important in the pathogenetic mechanism of sleep apnea and sudden infant death syndrome due to brainstem tegmental gliosis and cerebellar respiratory control disturbance.