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-6-92 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-6-12-5 Seizure Disorders Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Benign Neonatal Sleep Myoclonus 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 12 1992 01 07 2016 6 12 92 93 Copyright: © 1992 The Author(s) 1992 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. Benign neonatal sleep myoclonus. A differential diagnosis of neonatal seizures

Benign neonatal sleep myoclonus was diagnosed in 10 infants at the Children’s Hospital, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

 Benign Neonatal Sleep Myoclonus Neonatal Onset Acoustic Stimuli

Benign neonatal sleep myoclonus was diagnosed in 10 infants at the Children’s Hospital, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The neonates were referred for assessment of seizures. The myoclonus increased with gentle restraint and in 2 patients it worsened in spite of anticonvulsant therapy. None of the clinical events was associated with EEG seizure phenomena. All infants were neurodevelopmentally normal between the ages of 4 months and 5 years. The myoclonus remitted by age 6 months in all but 2 infants. [1]

COMMENT. Benign neonatal sleep myoclonus has the following characteristics: 1) neonatal onset, 2) myoclonic jerks only during sleep, 3) abrupt and consistent cessation with arousal, 4) absence of EEG seizure activity and 5) good prognosis. This entity must be distinguished from benign familial neonatal seizures and anticonvulsants should be withheld. The condition should also be differentiated from neonatal hyperekplexia which is characterized by massive jerks in response to sudden tactile and acoustic stimuli and long lasting myoclonic jerks closely resembling epileptic seizures. [2]

Benign myoclonic epilepsy of early childhood reported in 20 children from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia [3] was considered a phenotype differing only in the age of onset, but sharing the same genotype as benign infantile myoclonic epilepsy and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

Benign myoclonus of early infancy was reported in 6 cases from Milan, Italy [4]. The sudden onset of monoclonic jerks mainly involving the trunk and upper limbs, normal developmental milestones, absence of EEG abnormalities and self limited course were consistent with the diagnosis as described initially by Lombroso and Fejerman.

 Daoust-Roy J Seshia SS Benign neonatal sleep myoclonus. A differential diagnosis of neonatal seizures Am J Dis Child 1992 Oct 146 10 1236 1241 10.1001/archpedi.1992.02160220122037 1415056 Pascotto A Coppola G Neonatal hyperekplexia: a case report Epilepsia 1992 Sep-Oct 33 5 817 820 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1992.tb02187.x 1396422 Gascon GG Yaqub B Waheed Ghazela Benign myoclonic epilepsy of early childhood Pediatr Neurol 1992 Sept/Oct 8 348 (abstract) 10.1016/0887-8994(92)90104-7 Nardocci N Combi ML Rumi V Franceschetti S Binelli S Angelini L Benign myoclonus of early infancy: Clinical study in 6 cases Pediatr Neurol 1992 Sept/Oct 8 404 (abstract) 10.1016/0887-8994(92)90327-U