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Mechanisms of Brain Damage in Twins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Margaret G. Norman*
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, Vancouver General Hospital and University of British Columbia
*
Children’s Hospital, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6H 3V4 Canada
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The brains of 18 twins dying in the perinatal period showed a variety of lesions. Eleven had subependymal cell plate hemorrhage which had ruptured into the lateral ventricles in five. Five had periventricular damage. Three had anoxic neuronal damage. One acardiac monster had bilateral cerebral infarction. One pair had unequal sized brains, probably due to unequal intrauterine nutrition. Twins have a high perinatal mortality and morbidity; as well, intrauterine events may alter brain growth and development in each twin unequally, so they are an imperfect model to study the effect of genes and environment on intelligence.

Type
Hypothesis
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1982

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