periventricular leukomalacia
Last reviewed 01/2018
Periventricular leukomalacia describes ischaemic lesions around the ventricles.
It is caused by damage to vulnerable anastomoses in the cerebral blood supply - the watershed between the blood supplies leads to multiple hole formation, and development of cysts. Babies are more susceptible to ischaemic damage of this kind due to their poorly tuned homeostasis of cerebral blood flow which results in dramatic swings of cerebral blood gas levels. When affected, the lesions tend to be bilateral.