Trimestral changes of seizure frequency in pregnant epileptic women.

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of pregnancy on trimestral frequency of epileptic seizures. The seizure frequency was studied retrospectively in 50 pregnant epileptic women compared to one year before the onset of pregnancy, for each trimester of pregnancy separately, and for the whole duration of pregnancy. In the first trimester 18% of the pregnant epileptic women had an increased seizure frequency.

[Computerized tomography and ultrasound in the early diagnosis of brain damage].

Eighty-one neonates were evaluated clinically by ultrasound and/or CT with the aim of assessing diagnostic possibilities of both methods in the cases of pathomorphologic findings linked with perinatal risk factors and subsequent neurologic deficits. In perinatal at-risk infants (N = 11), premature infants (N = 6) and term infants (N = 5) ultrasound is a reliable diagnostic method in the detection and follow-up of intraventricular hemorrhage and perivascular leukomalacia in preterm infants, while for the diagnosis of hypoxic-ischemic lesions, especially focal cortico-subcortical changes in term infants, besides ultrasound it is necessary to perform CT. In perinatal infants (N = 50) with neurologic deficits at the age of 2-5 years, on CT scanning, atrophic changes were found in 50% of cases, while in 10% vascular lesions were observed, and a combination of atrophic and vascular lesions was found in 28% of the cases examined.

Ultrasonography in hereditary degenerative diseases of the cerebral white matter in infancy.

Ultrasonography of the brain, performed on two female infants who were clinically suspected of having leukodystrophy, demonstrated markedly increased echoes in the periventricular regions bilaterally and indistinct visualization of sulci and gyri on sagittal and coronal scans. The same sonographic features present on subsequent US examinations corresponded to progressive low density areas and atrophy on CT scans. Increased periventricular echogenicity which shows no evolution, in a clinical context, may contribute to the early recognition of neurodegenerative disorders affecting white matter.