Devastating Neurological Disorders: Breath-holding Spells in Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy

Breath-holding spells are episodes of brief, involuntary cessations of breathing that occur in children in response to stimuli such as fear or injury. They are usually benign, and although very rarely, breath-holding spells accompany deteriorative neurological diseases. Here, we present two patients having infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy and breath-holding spells. Presence of the common respiratory problems in children with neurological disabilities may predispose the child with breath-holding spells and infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy to a danger of prolonged apnea and may be to a life-threatening event. Careful discrimination of breath-holding spells from true epileptic seizures need special emphasis, since acute delivery of antiepileptic drugs such as phenobarbitone or benzodiazepines may have further disturbing effects on respiration. It should be kept in mind that not every tonic or clonic movements are epileptic, and benign nonepileptic fits such as breath-holding spells may also coexist in progressively deteriorating childhood disorders including infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy.