Epilepsy associated with shaken baby syndrome

Abstract

The shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is an important cause of developmental delay in infants. Epileptic seizures are a common feature of this syndrome. The aim if this study is to analyse the impact of the early and late seizures disorder. We have retrospectively reviewed the clinical and electrophysiological findings in a series of 404 children hospitalised with SBS. In the acute phase, clinical epileptic seizures of various semiologies were found in 73% of the infants. Only 11% of the children had a normal EEG on admission. A poor outcome was found in 88% of the children in case of persisting EEG anomalies despite anti-epileptic treatment with 48% mortality in these patients. The development of refractory epilepsy was also associated with a poor outcome in this series. In fact 96% of the children with seizure recurrence had behavioural problems. The early recognition and subsequent management of these seizures is vital to prevent further neurological injury. Delayed or recurrent epileptic seizures may occur with a different semiology to the seizures in the acute phase and are also associated with a poor prognosis.