[FITZ]

Acute contusions show hemorrhagic necrosis and brain swelling

I know about macrophages and how that might work with contusions and hemorrhagic necrosis ---- but that didn't seem to be Terri's diagnosis --- or did she have contusions from certain head injuries? I read somewhere it was insufficient circulation to the brain which damaged neurons.

[secretagent]

Anoxic/Ischemic Injury: If the neuron is deprived of oxygen or glucose for more than 5 to 7 minutes, it dies. This is manifest as the cytoplasm becoming pink and homogeneous (eosinophilic) and the nucleus becoming dark and shrunken (pyknotic), with eventually the cell disappearing entirely.

http://www.uvm.edu/~jkessler/NP/neuropbr.htm

Cranford referred to Terri's "anoxic/ischemic" trauma. Loss of oxygen ("anoxic") causes the neuron to die.

I thought she had a 10 minute loss of circulation from a heart attack, causing the anoxia.