1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-4-30-a 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-4-4-8 Seizure Disorders Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Cortical Dysgenesis and Infantile Spasms: PET Studies http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 04 1990 01 08 2016 4 4 30 30 Copyright: © 1990 The Author(s) 1990 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Infantile spasms: I. PET identifies focal cortical dysgenesis in cryptogenic cases for surgical treatment

The identification of focal cortical dysgenesis by positron emission tomography (PET) in 5 of 13 children with cryptogenic infantile spasms is reported from the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics and Division of Neurosurgery, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA.

 Cortical Dysgenesis Positron Emission Tomography Infantile Spasms

The identification of focal cortical dysgenesis by positron emission tomography (PET) in 5 of 13 children with cryptogenic infantile spasms is reported from the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics and Division of Neurosurgery, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA. There was unilateral hypometabolism of cerebral glucose involving the parieto-occipito-temporal region. Neuropathological examination of resected tissue in four infants showed microscopic cortical dysplasia. The CT was normal in all infants and the MRI showed a subtle abnormality only in one. The EEG showed hypsarrhythmia and at times, a localized abnormality corresponding to areas of PET hypometabolism. PET may identify unsuspected focal cortical dysplasia in infants with cryptogenic spasms and resective surgery offers improved prognosis. [1]

COMMENT. Early studies showed that infantile spasms were cryptogenic in about 40% of patients [2] whereas more recent studies have demonstrated that this figure has diminished to 9-14%. The PET studies have uncovered further symptomatic cases previously not identified by CT and MRI. The same authors report lenticular nuclei hypermetabolism in 12 of 25 infants with spasms of cryptogenic or symptomatic types. They suggest that the lenticular nuclei may contribute to the pathogenesis of infantile spasms. [3]

 Chugani HT Shields WD Shewmon DA Olson DM Phelps ME Peacock WJ Infantile spasms: I. PET identifies focal cortical dysgenesis in cryptogenic cases for surgical treatment Ann Neurol 1990 Apr 27 4 406 413 10.1002/ana.410270408 2353794 Millichap JG Bickford RG Klass DW Backus RE Infantile spasms, hypsarhythmia, and mental retardation. A study of etiologic factors in 61 patients Epilepsia 1962 Jun 3 188 197 14474138 Chugani HT Chugani DC Muzik O Neurology 1990 40 suppl 1 407 413