title: Parieto-occipital encephalomalacia in children; clinical and electrophysiological features of twenty-seven cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Brain injuries occurring at a particular time may cause damages in well-defined regions of brain. Perinatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and hypoglycemia are some of the most common types of brain injuries. Neonatal hypoglycemia can cause abnormal myelination in parietal and occipital lobes resulting in parieto-occipital encephalomalacia. There is a small number of studies about clinical and electroencephalographic (EEG) features of children with parieto-occipital encephalomalacia. They might have important neurologic sequelae such as cortical visual loss, seizures, and psychomotor retardation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to evaluate the causes of parieto-occipital encephalomalacia and evaluate the clinical and electrophysiological features of children with parieto-occipital encephalomalacia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated clinical features and EEGs of 27 children with parieto-occipital encephalomalacia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive statistics were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hospitalization during the neonatal period was the most common cause (88.9%) of parieto-occipital brain injury. Eleven patients (40.7%) had a history of neonatal hypoglycemia. Twenty-three patients (85.2%) had epilepsy and nine of the epileptic patients (39%) had refractory seizures. Most of the patients had bilateral (50%) epileptic discharges originating from temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes (56.2%). However, some patients had frontal sharp waves and some had continuous spike and wave discharges during sleep. Visual abnormalities were evident in 15 (55.6%) patients. Twenty-two (81.5%) had psychomotor retardation. Fine motor skills, social contact and language development were impaired more than gross motor skills.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our study, most of the patients with parieto-occipital encephalomalacia had an eventful perinatal history. Epilepsy, psychomotor retardation, and visual problems were common neurologic complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Dokuz Eylul University Medical School, 35340, Inciraltı, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Pakize
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Karaoğlu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Dokuz Eylul University Medical School, 35340, Inciraltı, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ayşe İpek
authors.initials: Aİ
authors.lastname: Polat
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Dokuz Eylul University Medical School, 35340, Inciraltı, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Uluç
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Yiş
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Dokuz Eylul University Medical School, 35340, Inciraltı, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hız
keywords: Children; epilepsy; parieto-occipital encephalomalacia