2/16/2013 - Cletus' Necropsy (Autopsy) Results

2/16/13 - Cletus' necropsy (autopsy) came back the other day and the conclusion, to everyone's surprise was not, in fact schizencephaly, but rather porencephaly. 

I spoke with Cletus' neurologist at the University of Florida and the difference between schizencephaly and porencephaly is all grey matter lining the opening with schizencephaly and some white matter lining the opening with porencephaly.  Animals, including dogs have been known to have porencephaly although Cletus' case was pretty severe.

I asked about the CT Scan which was performed by this same doctor and other doctors where they "confirmed" the schizencephaly and the response was that it is truly impossible to know if it is porencephaly or schizencephaly until an autopsy is completed.

I then asked if we knew of his true diagnosis, would the treatment have been any different, could there have been anything we could have done to help Cletus that we did not do?  I was told no, we did everything we could possibly do and his treatment would not have been different.

What I am upset about is that I wrote to his neurologist back on February 3rd of 2012 bringing up porencephaly as a possible diagnosis for Cletus reather than schizencephaly. 

This is what I wrote (email dated February 3, 2012):

"...In addition, I have been doing research (as always) and have come across porencephaly as a possible alterior diagnosis for Cletus which I would like for your team to look into. Not that I disagree with the schizencephaly diagnosis, just that it is possible that porencephaly could be confused with schizencephaly at times."

And here is the neurosurgeon's response (email also dated February 3, 2012):

"...Porencephaly is just a hole in the cerebrum and there is generally normal brain tissue on all sides of the defect. Porencephaly isn’t really a diagnosis per se, it is the result of a local death of brain tissue; e.g. it is a just a descriptor of a gross anatomic lesion. The causes seen in veterinary medicine are generally viral infections in utero. Skull malformations are not generally a feature of porencephaly either."

They then performed the CT Scan on February 6th, 2012 and confirmed their diagnosis of schizencephaly. 

Part of my thinks the University was looking to make a "unique" diagnosis so they could write a paper which now they are not going to write because their diagnosis is proved wrong.  I just hope they did not cause Cletus any harm in doing so.

Love to all,

Doug