Custering of the morphological components of perinatal telencephalic leucoencephalopathy.

The data upon which the original report of perinatal telencephalic leucoencephalopathy was based have been examined for clustering of the four criteria of neonatal white matter damage. Three clusters have been identified: (1) acutely damaged glia with amphophilic globules, (2) hypertrophic astrocytes and amphophilic globules but without necrotic foci, and (3) hypertrophic astrocytes and amphophilic globules with necrotic foci. The original report of perinatal telencephalic leucoencephalopathy therefore probably included two entities. One was characterized by acutely damaged glia and amphophilic globules and the other by hypertrophic astrocytes and amphophilic globules. The two entities do not occur together significantly more frequently than would be expected on the basis of the independent occurrence of each.