Ischemia of the brain stem as a cause of sudden infant death syndrome.

Recent evidence indicates that the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is related to abnormal control of respiration. Focal morphologic changes have not been noted. In a case of SIDS, ischemic degeneration was noted bilaterally in the medulla, particularly in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve. Pathologic changes were not found elsewhere in the CNS. To our knowledge, this is the first description of a focal brain-stem lesion in SIDS that had enough of a role in altered respiratory control to cause death.