Cerebral damage in paraquat poisoning.

This is the first report on cerebral changes in eight patients who died of paraquat poisoning. These included generalized oedema, haemorrhages (both subependymal and subarachnoid), glial reactions (microglial activity and astrocytic response) and meningeal inflammation. Oedema and haemorrhage were the most consistent and significant findings; they suggest that paraquat may damage the cerebral blood vessels. The distribution of haemorrhages was unusual and resembled that seen in thiamine deficiency.