Blind, deaf and mute after a status epilepticus caused by hyperpyrexia from shigellosis--a case report with a four-year follow-up.
A nearly four-year-old boy awoke blind, deaf and mute from a coma of five days duration after a status epilepticus caused by hyperpyrexia from shigellosis. The authors give a detailed report of the recovery. Visual and auditory functions recovered within six months after the onset but expressive language difficulties remained. Following a discussion of the underlying mechanisms producing the cerebral damage, the hypothesis of a type of "disconnection syndrome" is put forward to explain the persisting language deficit.
van Dongen
H R
HR
Department of Child Neurology, Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Loonen
M C
MC
Heersema
D J
DJ
de Groot
R
R
D017668:Age of Onset; D001037:Aphasia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001766:Blindness / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D003638:Deafness / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004405:Dysentery, Bacillary / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016057:Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem; D005517:Foodborne Diseases; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012763:Shigella flexneri / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014705:Verbal Behavior