CEREBROSPINAL FLUID PROTEINS IN SUBACUTE SCLEROSING PANENCEPHALITIS: Correlation of Data with Clinical and Evolutive Aspects

Fifteen patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in different evolutive phases were studied with clinical and electroencephalographical methods, and the data obtained were compared with the data obtained by electrophoretic an immunochemical methods. The electro‐phoretic examination of CSF proteins was carried out on a support of cellulose acetate and evaluated by comparison with a “control” group comprising 100 subjects. It is observed that panencephalitis tends to evolve in two distinct phases. The first phase usually ranges up to the first six months of evolution and presents a clinical picture of dementia, myoclonus, and characteristic periodical complexes in the EEG. In this phase the values for total CSF proteins are normal, with selective hypergammaglobulinorrachia and decrease of almost all other electrophoretic fractions. In the second phase, with evolution periods of more than six months, the clinical picture is that of decortication, with low voltage of the EEG. In this phase the total CSF proteins are increased. The gammaglobulin increase is great, but there is also an increase of the remaining electrophoretic fractions. Authors ascribe these alterations to changes in the blood‐brain barrier during the evolutive course of the disease.