Aag Jennekens-Schinkel

Prognosis of ischemic stroke in childhood: a long‐term follow‐up study

Little is known about long‐term physical sequelae, cognitive functioning, and quality of life in children who have experienced ischemic stroke. Thirty‐seven patients under 16 years of age were studied; the median interval after stroke was 7 years. CT‐scans were reassessed to determine the type of infarction at baseline. Occurrences of death, of new cardiovascular events, and of seizures during follow‐up were recorded. Surviving patients were invited for a follow‐up examination, including physical check‐up, global screening of cognition, and an inventory of subjective health perception. Only two patients were lost to follow‐up. During follow‐up four died, nine developed seizures, eight had transient ischemic attacks, and two experienced a recurrent ischemic stroke. None of the patients had cardiac complications during follow‐up. In 11 of 27, no functional impairment was found, in 15 there was a hemiparesis of varying severity, and in one a paraplegia. There was a significant shift in cognitive functioning towards lower levels, especially in children with epilepsy. Remedial teaching was frequently needed. Many of the parents’perceived their childs behavior to be very changeable. Three‐quarters of the children considered themselves as healthy as other children, and almost all of them as happy. The physical and functional prognosis after ischemic stroke in childhood is relatively good, particularly in children with no serious causative illness, but special education is often needed and social changes occur.

Health‐related Quality of Life and Self‐perceived Competence of Children Assessed before and up to Two Years after Epilepsy Surgery

Summary:  Purpose: To measure outcome of epilepsy surgery in terms of health‐related quality of life (HrQoL) and self‐perceived competence of children and adolescents.

Prognosis of haemorrhagic stroke in childhood: a long‐term follow‐up study

Little is known about long‐term physical sequelae, cognitive functioning, and quality of life of children who have had a haemorrhagic stroke. Fifty‐six patients (29 females, 27 males) under 16 years of age at time of the bleeding were studied. Mean age at time of bleeding was 7.7 years (range 1 month to 15.9 years). The primary site and cause of the bleeding at baseline were determined. Occurrences of death, rebleedings, and seizures during follow‐up were recorded. Patients who survived were invited for a follow‐up examination including physical check‐up, general screening of cognition, and an inventory of subjective health perception. Thirteen children died directly as a result of the haemorrhage; nine experienced a recurrent bleeding, which was fatal in three; six children developed epileptic seizures. At follow‐up 36 of 56 patients were still alive. Mean follow‐up time was 10.3 years (range 1.3 to 19.9 years) and mean age was 18.6 years (range 1.8 to 34.1 years). There was no patient lost to follow‐up. Five patients declined to visit the hospital. In 15 out of 31 patients who could be examined, no physical impairment was observed, 11 had a hemiparesis of varying severity, and three had symptoms of cerebellar ataxia. One child had persisting tetraparesis and one persisting paraparesis. Signs of cognitive deficits were found in 15 patients. Of the children who survive haemorrhagic stroke, the physical and functional prognosis is relatively good, as almost all children were independent at follow‐up. However, only a quarter of the surviving children had no physical or cognitive deficit after a mean follow‐up period of 10 years. The majority had low self‐esteem as well as emotional, behavioural, and health problems.

Very-low-birthweight and term small-for-gestational-age adolescents: attention revisited.

Aim: To assess whether adolescents with very low birthweight (VLBW) and peers born small for gestational age (SGA) at term are at a disadvantage when attending to or executing tasks. Methods: Cohorts of 54 VLBW (≤1500 g), 60 SGA and 83 controls were tested with the Knox Cube Test, Conners’ Continuous Performance Test (CPT II), Stroop Colour‐Word Test, Trail Making Test (TMT) A & B, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). IQ was estimated using the subtests vocabulary and picture arrangement of WISC III. Results: VLBW adolescents scored worse than controls on Knox Cube Test, Stroop Colour‐Word Test, TMT A & B and WCST, whereas term SGA adolescents only made more non‐perseverative errors in WCST and more errors in the interference condition of the Stroop Colour‐Word Test. Thirty‐two (38.6%) adolescents in the control group had poor performance (< 2 SD) on at least one of the tests compared with 40 (74.1%) VLBW (p<0.01) and 32 (53.3%) SGA adolescents (not significant).

Long-term prognosis of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in childhood

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a rare but potentially serious disorder in children. There is no literature on the long‐term neuropsychological and emotional sequelae and implications for quality of life. We studied 17 children who had CVST after the neonatal period, aged between 1 month and 16 years at the time of CVST (mean age at CVST was 6 years, median 4 years 8 months). Five children died during follow‐up. The cause of death was related to CVST in one child. Twelve children participated in a clinical follow‐up assessment. Mean follow‐up was 2 years 8 months. One child had physical sequelae with impairment of skilled movement. All children had average or high intelligence scores. Two children with CVST due to an uncomplicated mastoiditis had mild cognitive deficits: one child had difficulty with written language; the other had diminished cognitive efficiency with concentration and attention problems associated with decreased psychosocial functioning. Decreased physical well‐being was reported in three of 12 children. We conclude that children who had survived CVST had a fair prognosis. Most had normal cognitive and physical development, although mild cognitive deficits or decreased physical and psychosocial well‐being can occur.

Visual perceptual impairment in children at 5 years of age with perinatal haemorrhagic or ischaemic brain damage in relation to cerebral magnetic resonance imaging

Children with perinatally acquired parenchymal haemorrhage are thought to have better visual perceptual skills than those with leukomalacia. We examined seven prematurely born children with parenchymal haemorrhage and 14 with grades 2-4 leukomalacia, at the age of 5 years. Clinical and magnetic resonance imaging parameters were related to visual perceptual performance assessed with the L94, using performance age. Belonging to the leukomalacia group, the inability to walk, a diminished peritrigonal white matter, a high degree of gliosis and cortical damage were associated with poorer visuo-perceptual skills. Enlarged lateral ventricles, confirming the findings of Melhelm (Radiology 214 (2000) 199), were associated with both cognitive, perceptual and motor problems and probably reflect the considerable extent of the brain damage. Specific factors protecting against visual perceptual impairment were a preserved volume of the right optical radiation and of the splenium of the corpus callosum. Children with leukomalacia are at considerable risk of visual perceptual impairment. Children with right-sided parenchymal haemorrhages also appear to be at risk although they function much better due to better motor and cognitive skills.

Verbal memory after epilepsy surgery in childhood.

PURPOSE To investigate verbal memory after epilepsy surgery both group-wise and at the level of individual children, and to assess associations with side of surgery and removal of the temporal lobe. METHODS A prospective controlled study in a consecutive sample of 21 children undergoing epilepsy surgery, with comprehensive assessments of verbal memory before surgery and six, 12 and 24 months after surgery. For each patient, two age- and gender-matched controls were tested at similar intervals. Standardized regression-based (SRB) analysis was applied to compare post-surgical change in individual patients with change in controls. RESULTS Group-wise, average normed scores on verbal memory tests were higher after epilepsy surgery than before, corroborating earlier reports. By dint of empirically based SRB analysis, however, considerable individual differences in post-surgical change were revealed. Children with resections that included the left temporal lobe functioned significantly poorer than predicted on the basis of their pre-surgical performance. In contrast, verbal memory performance after surgery was consistent with pre-surgical baseline in the majority of children with resections that spared the left temporal lobe. CONCLUSIONS Despite cessation of epileptic seizures, verbal memory remains vulnerable in children who required surgery including the left temporal lobe. In most - but not all - children with other types of surgery, post-surgical verbal memory is consistent with their individual pre-surgical base level.

Language development before and after temporal surgery in children with intractable epilepsy

Purpose:  To obtain systematic knowledge of language development before and after epilepsy surgery in regions that, if damaged, are known to entail language impairment in adults.

Medication policy after epilepsy surgery.

The postsurgical medication policy was reviewed for 109 children (age at surgery, 0-16 years) who had epilepsy surgery between 1991 and 2005. Intervals between surgery and both start (n = 84) and completion (n = 68) of withdrawal of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were calculated and analyzed in relation to demographic and epilepsy variables and to recurrent seizures. Postoperative seizure freedom was associated with completeness of surgical resection, defined as complete removal of the cortical region exhibiting ictal or interictal abnormalities on intracranial electroencephalography and lesion on magnetic resonance imaging (P = 0.008). Etiology seemed to be related, but numbers were too small for statistical analysis. In 24 children (22%), seizures recurred postoperatively, and in 19 of these 24 children the AEDs were never withdrawn. Two of the five children in whom seizures recurred after medication withdrawal regained seizure freedom. Mean interval from surgery to start of drug withdrawal was 1.71 years (n = 84), and 2.86 years (n = 68) from surgery to complete withdrawal. Seizure recurrence seemed not associated with withdrawal decisions. Timing of seizure relapse was identical in children still on AEDs and in those who stopped. Eight children with early discontinuation (0.6 years from surgery to start of withdrawal and 0.8 years to complete withdrawal) had no seizure recurrence. Long-term continuation of AEDs is probably not indicated in children with complete resection of the epileptogenic zone. The optimal timing needs to be further explored.

Visual memory after epilepsy surgery in children: A standardized regression-based analysis of group and individual outcomes

Visual memory is vulnerable to epilepsy surgery in adults, but studies in children suggest no change or small improvements. We investigated visual memory after epilepsy surgery, both group-wise and in individual children, using two techniques to assess change: 1) repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and 2) an empirically based technique for detecting cognitive change [standardized regression-based (SRB) analysis]. A prospective cohort consisting of 21 children completed comprehensive assessments of memory both before surgery (T0) and 6 (T1), 12 (T2), and 24 months (T3) after surgery. For each patient, two age- and gender-matched controls were assessed with the same tests at the same intervals. Repeated measures ANOVA replicated the results of previous studies reporting no change or minor improvements after surgery. However, group analysis of SRB results eliminated virtually all improvements, indicating that the ANOVA results were confounded by practice effects. Standardized regression-based group results showed that in fact patients scored lower after surgery than would be predicted based on their presurgical performance. Analysis of individual SRB results showed that per visual memory measure, an average of 18% of patients obtained a significantly negative SRB score, whereas, on average, only 2% obtained a significantly positive SRB score. At T3, the number of significantly negative SRB scores outweighed the number of significantly positive SRB scores in 62% of patients. There were no clear associations of clinical variables (including side and site of surgery and postsurgical seizure freedom) with memory outcome. The present analysis revealed that given their individual presurgical functioning, many children obtained disappointing results on some visual memory tests after epilepsy surgery. Comparison of the SRB analysis with ANOVA results emphasizes the importance of empirically based techniques for detecting cognitive effects of epilepsy surgery in childhood.