[Spectacular neurologic manifestations after mild head trauma: retrospective study on 51 children].
Mild head traumas, as a rule, remain a- or paucisymptomatic. In a few cases however, spectacular manifestations develop despite absence of intracerebral lesion. POPULATION, METHODS: We have studied retrospectively 51 such children and contacted their family in order to clarify the follow-up.


RESULTS
The dominant symptoms allowed to categorize the following situations: syncope-like loss of consciousness (11 cases), seizures (6), severe headaches with neurologic signs (15), confusion (8), visual disorders (6), amnesic ictus (5). Recurrences were possible but benign: in 8/11 children in the group "syncopes", in 1/6 in the group "seizures", in 5/21 in the 4 other groups. In the latter 4 groups, 11/21 children developed common migraine. Except for the only case who developed epilepsy later on, scholarship was normal in the 25 cases with sufficient follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Beside syncopes and seizures, the long-lasting episodes suggested a migrainous pathogeny, perhaps at a maturative stage where the trigger of migrainous mechanism is at a low level in the brain.


CONCLUSIONS
The mildness of the knock, the normality of CT scan including when the symptoms are present and the normality of both consciousness and examination once the symptoms have disappeared allow to avoid further investigations.
Bru
M
M
Service de neurologie pédiatrique, service des urgences pédiatriques, hôpital Bicêtre, Assistance-publique-Hôpitaux-de-Paris, 94270, France.
Nouyrigat
V
V
Landrieu
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003221:Confusion / Q000209:etiology; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology*; D013575:Syncope / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014474:Unconsciousness / Q000209:etiology*