Neurodevelopmental evolution of West syndrome: a 2-year prospective study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the epileptic and developmental evolution in infants with West syndrome.

Methods: A prospective study of 21 infants was performed, with a follow-up at 2 years. Serial assessment included long-term EEG monitoring, visual and auditory evaluation and assessment of neurodevelopment.

Visual function in infants with West syndrome: correlation with EEG patterns.

Purpose: Several studies have reported behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of visual impairment during the active stage of West syndrome. The underlying mechanisms are, however, poorly understood, and little has been reported about the correlation between visual impairment, EEG patterns, and brain lesions. The aim of the study was to assess visual function at the onset of spasm and 2 months thereafter and relate visual findings to brain lesions and EEG features.

Development of visual attention in West syndrome.

Purpose: To study prospectively the evolution of visual attention in children with West syndrome to evaluate its development before the onset of spasms, its possible deterioration as a consequence of epileptic disorders, and its outcome at the age of 2 years, and the possible relation between the impairment of visual attention and cognitive development.

Methods: Infants with symptomatic West syndrome were examined before the onset of spasms and until age 24 +/- 2 months. Visual attention study (through a clinical observation and the fixation-shift test), cognitive assessment, and complete clinical examination including brain magnetic resonance imaging were performed.

Prognostic value of the neurologic optimality score at 9 and 18 months in preterm infants born before 31 weeks' gestation.

Objective: The Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination was performed in a cohort of 74 preterm infants whose gestational age ranged between 24 and 30.5 weeks. The infants were examined between 9 and 18 months' chronologic age (6-15 months' corrected age) and scored with the optimality score system previously standardized in a cohort of low-risk term infants.