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Developmental outcomes in children receiving resection surgery for medically intractable infantile spasms
Author(s) -
Asarnow Robert,
LoPresti Christine,
Guthrie Donald,
Elliott Teresa,
Cynn Virginia,
Shields W Donald,
Shewmon D Alan,
Sankar PhD. Raman,
Peacock Warwick
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
developmental medicine and child neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.658
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1469-8749
pISSN - 0012-1622
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1997.tb07462.x
Subject(s) - medicine , vineland adaptive behavior scale , pediatrics , developmental age , developmental milestone , el niño , epileptic spasms , surgery , epilepsy , psychology , psychiatry , cognition , developmental psychology
Two‐year postsurgical developmental outcomes were assessed in 24 children with infantile spasms who underwent resective surgery. The mean age of onset of infantile spasms was 12.0 weeks and the mean age at surgery was 20.8 months. Developmental outcomes were assessed using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS). There was a significant increase in developmental level at 2 years postsurgery compared with presurgical levels. At 2 years postsurgery only one of the children in this series was severely retarded. The developmental outcomes of patients in the series were better than those in prior studies of symptomatic patients receiving medical treatment for infantile spasms. It is surprising that the children in the UCLA series frequently had developmental outcomes equal to and sometimes superior to other groups of children with infantile spasms, since all the UCLA patients were symptomatic, had neurologic deficits and had failed to respond to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and antiepileptic drugs. The 2‐year postsurgery developmental outcomes were best for the children who received surgery, when they were relatively young and who had the highest level of developmental attainments presurgically.