Brain abscess rarely occurs in children. It is a neurosurgical emergency with a potentially catastrophic outcome, with a high risk of permanent neurological deficit. With the introduction of modern imaging, antibiotics, and stereotactic surgical techniques, mortality has decreased markedly. Symptoms are nonspecific and may vary depending on the child’s age, location, size, number, and stage of the abscess, and the primary source of infection. Despite the decline in mortality, brain abscess remains a serious disease that can lead to serious morbidity or even death if diagnosed late, incorrectly diagnosed, or inadequately treated.
pediatrics
Calcificaciones ganglio basales simétricas bilaterales (Enfermedad de Fahr) en pediatría: Reporte de caso. Bilateral symmetric basal ganglia calcifications (Fahr’s disease) in pediatrics: Case report
Introduction: Fahr syndrome is defined as the presence of predominantly bilateral symmetric calcifications in the basal ganglia (mainly striated nucleus). It is considered primary when the etiology is genetic, which is also known as Fahr’s disease; and secondary if metabolic alterations, endocrine alterations, exposure to radiation, infections, vascular disorders, mitochondrial diseases or others, are found, being the most frequent: hypoparathyroidism and pseudo-hypoparathyroidism. Fahr’s disease is a pathology of genetic origin, rare in pediatrics, that is associated with movement, neuropsychiatric and cognitive disorders.
Clincal case: We present the case of a 9-year-old boy with evidence of bilateral symmetric basal ganglia calcifications on brain computed tomography (CT) scanning. In the literature there are very few descriptions of this finding in pediatrics. Clinically, the child presented WITH epilepsy, right hand dystonia, mild cognitive deficit and progressive impairment of speech and gait. He was clinically diagnosed as a Fahr’s disease, given the abscense of other metabolic or endocrinological alterations, without genetic studies, and treatment with Levodopa-carbidopa was started for the management of dystonia with clincal evidence of improvement, an a comprehensive rehabilitation program was indicated.
Conclusions: The finding of bilateral symmetric basal ganglion calcifications should lead to rule out endocrinological or metabolic alterations; In the event that they do not occur, all possible related manifestations in the cognitive, psychiatric, motor, speech and other fields should be handled in a comprehensive manner.
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Giant bilateral open-lip schizencephaly. Esquizencefalia bilateral gigante de labio abierto
La esquizencefalia es una malformación cerebral congénita caracterizada por hendiduras en la corteza cerebral, se clasifica en Tipo I (labio abierto) y tipo II (labio cerrado). Los pacientes con esquizencefalia presentan convulsiones, hidrocefalia, déficit motor y mental. La ecografía se utiliza para el diagnóstico intra útero y recién nacidos, y la resonancia magnética o tomografía computarizada en pacientes ya nacidos. El manejo de la esquizencefalia es conservador, con rehabilitacción de los déficits motores o mentales, medicación o cirugía para convulsiones y derivación en hidrocefalia con aumento de la presión intraacraneal. En la literatura, solo se han informado unos pocos casos bilaterales gigantes. Presentamos un caso de esquizencefalia gigante bilateral de labio abierto, en un paciente masculino de 10 días, que se presenta con hipotonía leve y sin convulsiones. Este caso es raro debido a las características relativamente beningnas en comparación con otros casos notificados.
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Palabras clave: esquizencefalia bilateral,
hendidura gigante,
malformación cerebral,
pediatría,
TAC,
Schwannoma Con Una Localización Cervical Infrecuente en un Paciente Pediátrico: Reporte De Caso. Schwannoma With A Non-Frequent Location In Pediatric Patient. Case Report
Schwannomas are usually benign, slow-growing tumors, usually found in adults. They are very rare in the pediatric population and their diagnosis requires a high index of clinical suspicion. We present the case of a 9-year-old male patient with a history of an asymptomatic cervical mass, with no other relevant clinical history. Total excision of the mass was possible, and histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of schwannoma. The patient recovered completely, with excellent prognosis. It is necessary to keep in mind schwannomas in the differential diagnosis in cases of cervical masses in pediatric patients.
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Adherencia al Tratamiento Antiepiléptico en Pacientes Pediátricos del Hospital Roberto Gilbert Elizalde en el Año 2014. Adherence To Antiepileptic Treatment In Pediatric Patients At Hospital Roberto Gilbert Elizalde During 2014.
Introduction: Epilepsy in the pediatric population is an entity that mostly affects underdeveloped countries. In Ecuador, hospital admissions due to poor control are increasing and the main cause is poor adherence to antiepileptic treatment.
Objective: To demonstrate the incidence of nonadherence to the antiepileptic regimen and determine the factors that contributes to it.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which 119 patients were included with ages between 6 months and 17 years. The parents or legal guardians were questioned regarding the degree of adherence to antiepileptic treatment using the Morisky questionnaire. A logistic regression model was used to measure the strength of association between variables.
Results: An incidence of non-adherence to antiepileptic treatment of 36.97% was found. The significantly associated variables were the mother’s schooling (x2=11.83, IC= 10.13 – 13.53, p=0.018), previous medical information (x2=9.35, IC= 7.95 – 10.75, p=0.02) and the failure to obtain medication due to lack of money (x2=5.98, IC= 5.29 – 6.67, p=0.01).
Conclusion: The incidence of nonadherence in this study was high; control over sociodemographic factors and related to treatment can have a great impact on these patients.
