Epileptic encephalopathy is not a sentence for a child and his parents. Perhaps this statement should be voiced first. Any illness in the baby causes fear in the parents, which is a completely normal reaction. Below we will consider a disease that affects the neurons of the brain and can lead to pathological abnormalities in development, if you do not pay due attention to the diagnosis and treatment.
Disease characteristics
Epileptic encephalopathy (EE) is a disease that is diagnosed in childhood. The term "encephalopathy" itself comes from the Greek language and implies a brain disease. Due to increased bioelectric activity, organic damage to the brain occurs, which leads to the development of the disease.
Epileptic encephalopathy in children is characterized by impaired cognitive and behavioral functions caused by neurological disorders and abnormal neural connections. The disease manifests itself in the first months of a child’s life, the frequency of this pathology is low, is not so common. Medical statistics show that most often pathology is found in male infants.
In school and adolescence, and even more so in adults, the disease is diagnosed in extremely rare cases, this is rather the exception.
Causes of the disease
The very possibility that a child will be diagnosed with this will horrify future parents. To understand how, where and why children develop epileptic encephalopathy, it is necessary to study the main causes of the onset of the disease.
A number of different factors can serve as catalysts for energy efficiency:
- The disease can be triggered by genetic changes in the baby’s body. Chromosomal abnormalities and genetic mutations often occur when Angelman syndrome is detected.
- Neoplasms in the brain also provoke the development of epileptic encephalopathy.
- Failures in the formation and development of the central nervous system of the baby. CNS defects at an early age directly affect the manifestation of the symptoms of the disease.
- A difficult maternal pregnancy can provoke a future illness in the baby. Risk factors include the wrong period of bearing a child, a complicated birth process, the presence of bad habits in a pregnant woman, even minor head injuries.
- Mental disorders of future parents (even one parent) often lead to disruptions in the development of the brain in the child, and, therefore, increase the risk of early epileptic encephalopathy.
In addition to hereditary factors that affect the future generation, a woman during pregnancy should be as vigilant as possible about her own health. All possible suspicions and deviations should be immediately reported to the doctor.
Pathogenesis of the disease
According to ICD 10, epileptic encephalopathy refers to section G40 “Epilepsy”. The disease develops against the background of disorders at the time of formation of the brain. How pathology will manifest itself in the future depends on the stage of brain maturation at which the onset of the disease occurred.
If the main blow fell on the left hemisphere, then this will affect the development of speech functions of the child. The defeat of the right hemisphere will lead to violations of articulation, abnormal monotony of speech. If the main focus is located in the region of the middle parts of the brain, then the child’s behavior is affected first of all, both towards autism and towards increased aggressiveness.
Epileptic encephalopathy affects the emotional background, as well as memory features.
Types of disease
Medicine has been studying the described disease for a long time in order to reduce the risk of its development. During this time, scientists have identified several major syndromes that are considered varieties of EE:
- Aicardi Syndrome. This disease manifests itself in early infancy, in the neonatal period (up to 28 days from birth). It is considered a rare manifestation of this pathology, affecting in most cases girls.
- West syndrome. Epileptic encephalopathy is characterized by infantile spasms, manifests itself at the age of 3 months to 1 year.
- Syndrome Drave. It is considered a severe infant pathology, characterized by myoclonic seizures, as well as focal seizures.
- Otahara Syndrome. It develops at an early age, characterized by mental disabilities in the development of the child.
- Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. It is accompanied by convulsions of atonic and tonic nature. In children, there is a delay in neuropsychic development.
Based on medical clinical data, experts distinguish Vesta's epileptic encephalopathy as the most common type of EE pathology in infants. A similar diagnosis is made in 40% of cases of the disease in question. In addition to impaired mental development, the appearance of convulsions and cramps, the disease can affect the motor abilities of the child.
Over time, West syndrome can go to a different stage, more often converted to Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. This occurs after one year and up to seven years of age.
The main symptoms in children
Symptoms of the disease in children can be different, a lot depends on the child’s age, stage and type of pathology, as well as on the part of the brain in which the main focus is localized.
Such a pathology requires early diagnosis and timely treatment in order to avoid the development of complications. For this reason, it is extremely important not to leave the warning signs unattended.
In infants under one year of age, symptoms may include the following:
- causeless prolonged crying;
- unnatural reaction to light and sounds;
- frequent tipping of the head;
- unstable heart rate;
- violations in the sucking reflex of the baby.
Doctors also pay attention to increased muscle tone, frequent causeless tremors. It is important to understand that such manifestations do not always talk about the disease, such reactions can occur in healthy children, be irregular or regular. Diagnosis is very difficult, it is for this reason that the baby in the first months of life should regularly undergo medical monitoring.
The signs of the disease in children over three years of age are as follows:
- sleep disturbance, frequent daytime sleepiness;
- hearing and vision impairment;
- memory impairment;
- asymmetry of reflexes;
- regular headaches.
At this age, epileptic encephalopathy is the result of another disease, such as measles, chickenpox or scarlet fever. EE acts as a complication against the background of another disease. In some cases, the disease is accompanied by a sharp increase in temperature.
The disease can develop at school age, although similar cases are rare. With such predictions, the disease will be characterized by a sudden loss of interest in knowledge, increased irritability, apathy, or depression. Particular attention should be paid to the health of the child after a tick bite.
Symptoms of the disease are quite blurry, they can talk about completely different pathologies or just fatigue. For this reason, the condition of the child requires a thorough and competent diagnosis.
Consequences and Complications
Leaving uncharacteristic behavior of a child without attention is dangerous at any age. Of course, in any manifestations of care it is necessary to know the measure, but systematic deviations should alert parents.
Without proper treatment, epileptic encephalopathy can lead to serious violations in the mental and physical development of the child, up to disability at an early age.
The degree of possible complications for future health depends on the number of neurons that die in the brain of the child.
Competent diagnosis
As mentioned above, the diagnosis of the disease is laborious and complicated. The child must undergo a set of laboratory procedures and clinical studies.
For a correct diagnosis, you need:
- A visit to a neurologist who should make up a primary medical history. This occurs during a conversation with parents and the child (if he is at the appropriate age). The doctor also evaluates the main reflexes, the reaction rate to external stimuli.
- To determine the nature of functioning, blood supply and the structure of the brain, a whole complex of procedures is prescribed: EEG, MRI, ultrasound scan.
- A visit to a psychiatrist who focuses on the patient’s behavioral and emotional characteristics.
- For children over the age of 5, it is also recommended to undergo psychological tests to identify possible deviations in the emotional perception of the world.
- A number of laboratory tests are prescribed that help determine the patient's metabolic state, identify possible concomitant pathologies, and also specify the epileptic encephalopathy syndrome.
Only after passing a wide range of examinations the doctor is able to diagnose, begin to formulate a treatment regimen.
Treatment methods
In most cases, the disease has a slow development, which allows medicine to take the necessary measures in a timely manner. With early diagnosis, treatment begins in the hospital.
First of all, drugs are prescribed that normalize cerebral circulation and intracranial pressure. At an older age, the list of recommended drugs is expanding.
If we talk about treatment in general, then the following groups of medicines are used:
- Tranquilizers.
- Antiepileptic drugs.
- Nootropic drugs.
- Vasodilator drugs.
- Amino acids and vitamin complexes.
- Sedatives.
For a full recovery of insufficient drug therapy, it is important to resort to methods of physiotherapy treatment:
- Massage.
- Breathing exercises.
- Reflexology.
- Acupuncture.
- Swimming.
Competent comprehensive treatment of epileptic encephalopathy in children will allow you to fully recover. After treatment, it is recommended that you visit a neurologist twice a year and monitor your health.
Recovery Forecasts
With epileptic encephalopathy in children, the prognosis for recovery depends on several factors:
- Timeliness of diagnosis.
- The degree of the disease on which it is detected.
- Compliance with all the instructions of the attending physician.
If the disease is mild, then the chances of recovery are almost 100%. In the case of an acute form of pathology, treatment is complicated. The disease rapidly destroys brain neurons, which, without proper treatment, can provoke edema and coma.
Speaking about the statistical prognosis of epileptic encephalopathy, experts recommend not to panic, about a third of the children recover completely. The main thing is to pay attention to the symptoms in time and consult a doctor.
Disease Prevention Measures
The nature of the disease complicates its prevention. As it has already become clear, the disease is diagnosed in infancy and can have various causes.
The main thing is that the future mother must remember that the health of the future baby depends on her health. At the time of gestation, it is extremely important to abandon bad habits and pre-calculate the risks of the development of possible pathologies (modern medicine has the necessary spectrum of analyzes).
Medical practice and specialist advice
As already mentioned, early diagnosis plays a large role in the treatment of epileptic encephalopathy. Based on this statement, doctors recommend that they be extremely vigilant about the health of their own child in order to prevent the development of irreversible deviations.
A competent doctor will always be able to recognize the disease and find the necessary treatment.
The average cost of treating a disease
It is extremely difficult to calculate the average price for the entire complex of treatment for a child from epileptic encephalopathy. The cost of various procedures varies and depends on the region of residence and the level of medical care.
In addition to diagnosis, the treatment and recovery process itself will require additional cash infusions. Modern realities are such that state institutions may not have the necessary equipment.