The diagnosis of REP is quite rare. Most often, this pathology is detected in childhood. The disease is a type of encephalopathy. It is accompanied by the gradual death of cells of the central nervous system. How dangerous is this pathology? And is it curable? We will consider these issues in the article.
What it is
What does the diagnosis of REP mean? The interpretation of this abbreviation is residual encephalopathy. The disease is characterized by the death of neurons and impaired brain function. The word residual means residual.
This pathology is always secondary. It occurs as a residual phenomenon after diseases of the central nervous system. Such a complication occurs with insufficient or improper treatment of brain diseases.
Parents of babies are often interested in what the diagnosis of REP in a child means. The interpretation of this medical abbreviation is similar, it is residual encephalopathy. With adverse effects on the embryo or birth injuries, perinatal encephalopathy occurs. This disease is diagnosed in children in the first weeks and months of life. If the treatment of such a pathology was carried out poorly, then in the future, REP may develop as a residual phenomenon. Often this complication does not appear immediately, but after several months or even years, and it can be difficult to diagnose.
Causes
The diagnosis of REP is usually made to patients in those cases if they have signs of brain disorders after past pathologies of the central nervous system and other diseases that adversely affect the state of neurons. Residual encephalopathy most often occurs due to the following diseases and conditions:
- Severe head bruises, accompanied by concussion or fractures of the skull bones.
- Congenital perinatal encephalopathy. This condition develops after birth injuries and the pathological course of pregnancy in the mother of the child.
- Inflammatory diseases of the brain.
- Excess urea in the body. Such a deviation is often observed in diseases of the liver and kidneys.
- Stroke and other disorders of cerebral circulation. The cause of the pathology can be vascular atherosclerosis.
- Diabetes mellitus. Endocrine disorders and excess glucose in the body adversely affect the state of the nervous tissue.
- Toxin poisoning. Compounds of heavy metals, some drugs and alcohol have an adverse effect on the brain.
- The use of narcotic and psychotropic drugs. Even with timely detoxification, patients often retain signs of brain pathology.
Often the causes of this type of encephalopathy are several unfavorable factors. The physician needs to carefully examine the patient’s history before diagnosing REP. This disease can develop after a fairly long period of time after the pathologies.
Symptomatology
Residual encephalopathy in an adult patient is accompanied by the following symptoms:
- A sharp deterioration in memory. The patient becomes forgetful. He can hardly remember even recent events.
- Decreased intelligence. The patient is disturbed by the process of thinking due to the death of neurons and impaired cerebral circulation.
- Emotional lability. The patient often changes mood, there is increased irritability and tearfulness.
- Sleep disturbances. Patients suffer from insomnia at night, and feel drowsiness and lethargy during the day.
- Convulsive seizures. Attacks of seizures become more frequent as the disease progresses.
- Disorders of speech, vision and hearing. The patient slurred the words. Vision and hearing are impaired due to the death of nerve cells.
- Impaired coordination of movements. The patient's gait becomes unstable, he often loses his balance.
- Asthenia. The patient complains of constant fatigue and high fatigue.
- Headache. There are seizures resembling migraine. In this case, the pain syndrome does not stop with analgesics.
These manifestations of the pathology increase with the development of the disease. The more neurons die, the more pronounced the violation of brain functions.
What signs indicate a diagnosis of REP in a child? This disease is sometimes difficult to detect in young children. After all, the baby can not complain about feeling unwell. Parents should be alert for the following manifestations:
- tearfulness;
- increased reaction to external stimuli;
- frequent nausea and vomiting;
- weak sucking reflex;
- increased muscle tension;
- arrhythmia;
- exophthalmos (bulging eyes).
In older children, the disease is accompanied by the same symptoms as in adults. Residual encephalopathy extremely negatively affects the intelligence of the child. Children lag behind in mental and physical development, experience difficulties in assimilating and remembering information, and it becomes difficult for them to learn. Often in sick children, sudden fainting occurs.
Complications
How dangerous is the diagnosis of a REP neurologist? Without treatment, this type of encephalopathy can lead to the development of the following complications:
- severe dementia in adult patients;
- mental retardation in children;
- dropsy of the brain;
- neurocirculatory dystonia;
- paralysis;
- Parkinson's disease;
- epilepsy.
The likelihood of developing complications increases if the patient asked for help too late, when a significant number of nerve cells died.
Often, children's neurologists talk about minimal brain dysfunction in the diagnosis of REP. What does this mean? This complication is expressed in mental disorders in young patients. The child becomes restless, hyperactive, excitable, often makes erratic movements. These manifestations are enhanced in the puberty period against the background of hormonal changes in the body.
Diagnostics
Before diagnosing REP, the doctor questions the patient and examines his medical record. It is necessary to identify all neurological pathologies that the patient suffered in the past. Additional research methods are also prescribed:
- electroencephalogram;
- MRI and CT of the brain;
- clinical and biochemical blood analysis;
- Dopplerography of cerebral vessels.
Drug treatment
Treatment for this type of encephalopathy should be comprehensive. To restore normal brain function, patients are prescribed nootropic drugs:
- Cinnarizine
- Piracetam
- Cavinton
- Noopept;
- Pantogam
- Phenibut
- "Phenotropil".
These medications improve cerebral circulation and metabolism. It is useful to take them together with B vitamins. This will help restore the normal functioning of the central nervous system.
With severe headaches, analgesics usually do not help. Therefore, patients are prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs:
For severe pain, treatment with corticosteroids is recommended: Prednisolone or Dexamethasone.
If the patient has frequent epileptic seizures, it is recommended to take anticonvulsants: Finlepsin or valproic acid-based drugs.
With increased irritability and mood swings, doctors prescribe mild sedative drugs: Afobazol, Glycine, Persen. These medications will help reduce emotional instability. In severe cases, antidepressants and tranquilizers are indicated.
Other therapies
Drug treatment is supplemented with therapeutic massage sessions. This helps stimulate cerebral circulation. Therapeutic exercises are also helpful. When performing exercises, special attention must be paid to the collar zone. Active neck movements help improve brain nutrition.
A child suffering from residual encephalopathy needs developmental activities. When correcting mental disorders, it is very important to train memory and attention. In the case of a serious developmental delay, school-age children are shown home-based education.
Forecast
If the diagnosis of REP was made in a timely manner and the patient underwent a full course of therapy, then the disease should be cured. Lost neurons can no longer be recovered. But if the process of dying off brain cells has just begun, then therapy will help maintain the normal function of the central nervous system. Therefore, treatment is effective only at the initial stage of the pathology.
In advanced cases, it is no longer possible to restore lost brain functions. Even after treatment, the patient retains signs of memory impairment, impaired thinking and emotional lability. In children, this can lead to severe mental impairment.
Prevention
How to prevent the occurrence of residual encephalopathy? Prevention of this dangerous disease consists in observing the following measures:
- Injuries and pathologies of the central nervous system must be carefully treated.
- During pregnancy, women need to be regularly monitored by an obstetrician-gynecologist. It is also necessary to avoid any adverse effects on the embryo.
- Care must be taken to prevent traumatic brain injuries in children.
- It is necessary to protect yourself from poisoning with toxic substances, as well as stop drinking alcohol.
- Patients who have undergone CNS pathology should be regularly observed by a neurologist and undergo all necessary examinations.
These recommendations will help avoid residual encephalopathy. It is important to remember that this disease is much easier to prevent than to cure.