title: Global suppression of electrocortical activity in unilateral perinatal thalamic stroke.
abstract: We present an unusual case of persistent generalized electroencephalography (EEG) suppression and right-sided clonic seizures in a male infant born at 40(+2) weeks' gestation, birthweight 3240g, with an isolated unilateral thalamic stroke. The EEG at 13 hours after birth showed a generalized very low amplitude background pattern, which progressed to frequent electrographic seizures over the left hemisphere. The interictal background EEG pattern remained grossly abnormal over the next 48 hours, showing very low background amplitudes (<10μV). Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an isolated acute left-sided thalamic infarction. This is the first description of severe global EEG suppression caused by an isolated unilateral thalamic stroke and supports the role of the thalamus as the control centre for cortical electrical activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Neonatal Brain Research Group, Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT), Cork University Maternity Hospital, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Liudmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kharoshankaya
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Filan
authors.forename: Conor O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Bogue
authors.forename: Deirdre M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Geraldine B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Boylan
mesh_terms: D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012640:Seizures / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*