See Also: myelinolysis, central pontine(medicine)
central pontine myelinolysis(medicine)
myelinolysis(medicine)
Herbal medicine (botanical medicine, herbology, phytomedicine)(health)
Pontine(dictionary)
pontine angle(medicine)
pontine cistern(medicine)
pontine flexure(medicine)
pontine haemorrhage(medicine)
pontine nuclei(medicine)

myelinolysis, central pontine (medicine)


myelinolysis, central pontine


A form of massive demyelination of the pons occurring in malnutrition and alcoholism. The remarkable unsystematic dissolution of the sheaths of medullated fibres is its most certain feature. The lesion varies from only a few millimeters in diameter to almost the entire pons. The basic pathology is the destruction of the medullated sheaths throughout the lesions with relative sparing of the axis cylinders and intactness of the nerve cells of the pontine nuclei. Pathologically it is easily differentiated from infarction and the inflammatory demyelinations of multiple sclerosis and postinfectious encephalomyelitis. There does not appear to be a genetic, sex, or age factor. It is often, however, associated with some other serious disease, particularly chronic alcoholism. (adams & victor, principles of neurology, 2d ed, p720)