Complex brain malformation as a rare cause of neonatal death

A dead female neonate was brought to a children's hospital by the mother. The MRI scan suggested a malformation of the brain. Because of the other circumstances of the case (the mother left the hospital unauthorizedly), a forensic autopsy was ordered, in the course of which the brain was removed while the head was totally immersed in water. This method, which was introduced by Prahlow et al., helps to obtain intact brain specimens without interfering with the necessary medicolegal preparations to determine whether the child was born alive. Neuropathological examinations classified the cerebral malformation as (lethal) lissencephaly. Further investigations showed that the mother had lived in Germany without a residence permit.