Cognitive and Autistic Epileptiform Regression

J Gordon Millichap

doi:10.15844/pedneurbriefs-12-9-12

Abstract

Seven children, ages 3 to 8 years, presenting with autism or autistic regression and seizures had occipital spikes, characteristic of benign epilepsies, in a report from New York University Medical Center.

Highlights

Seven children, ages 3 to 8 years, presenting with autism or autistic regression and seizures had occipital spikes, characteristic of benign epilepsies, in a report from New York University Medical Center
Twenty-four young adults with infratentorial infarcts were evaluated by MRI and angiography and assessed by neuropsychological tests, acutely and at 4 and 12 months after the stroke, in a prospective study at the University of Umea, Sweden
Whereas digit and word span tasks requiring passive repetition are unaffected by cerebellar damage, a more demanding and complex listening span task, requiring repetition of words while simultaneously trying to analyze sentences, is significantly impaired

Summary

Introduction

Ages 3 to 8 years, presenting with autism or autistic regression and seizures had occipital spikes, characteristic of benign epilepsies, in a report from New York University Medical Center. Twenty-four young adults with infratentorial infarcts were evaluated by MRI and angiography and assessed by neuropsychological tests, acutely and at 4 and 12 months after the stroke, in a prospective study at the University of Umea, Sweden. Twenty two had a favorable outcome, but most performed worse than controls on tasks of attention, visuospatial skills, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Scores were related to size of infarct, and early post-stroke, block design task performance predicted maximal work performance at 12 months.

Results

Conclusion