Electroencephalographic aspects of hemimegalencephaly.
The authors retrospectively studied the electroencephalograms (EEGs) of 12 patients with hemimegalencephaly-a unilateral brain malformation which is often overlooked, despite having typical CT-scan and MRI aspects. They were characterized by three types of abnormal tracing, which correlated with prognosis: triphasic complexes of large amplitude were observed in patients with the earliest onset of seizures, and were associated with the most severe prognosis; unilateral, rhythmic 'alpha-like' activity was recorded in patients with seizures occurring after three months of age, and was associated with a relatively favourable outcome; asymmetrical suppression-bursts characterised by 'alpha-like' activity on the abnormal side were seen in patients with infantile spasms. The EEG pattern seems to make an important contribution to both diagnosis and prognosis.
Paladin
F
F
Ospedale Civile, S.S. Giovani E. Paolo, Venice.
Chiron
C
C
Dulac
O
O
Plouin
P
P
Ponsot
G
G
D001921:Brain / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006984:Hypertrophy; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed