Epilepsy in Children with Cerebral Palsy

1. Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Mashad University of Medical Sciences 2. Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Mashad University of Medical Sciences 3.General practitioner 4. Associate Professor, Pediatric Neurologist, Department of Pediatric Neurology & Neonatal Research Center, Mashad University of Medical Sciences Corresponding Author: J.Akhondian MD Fax:+98 511 8417451 e-mail:[email protected] Abstract: Objective Epilepsy occurs in 12 % to 90 % of children with cerebral palsy (CP). However its clinical course is not well defined. This investigation was undertaken to study and determine the characteristics and prevalence of epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy. Materials & Methods Of 133 children with cerebral palsy, seen between 1998 and 2001, in the pediatric neurology clinic of the Imam Reza hospital, fifty-three had epilepsy. During the same period, a group of 70 epileptic children with normal neurodevelopmental status was studied as the controls. Results Patients with spastic quadriplegia were the most commonly affected with epilepsy. When compared with the control group, children with CP had a higher incidence of epilepsy with onset within the first year of age (52.8% vs. 18.5%), history of neonatal seizures (20.7% vs. 4.2%), and poly therapy (73.6% vs. 29.1%) respectively. Conclusion Epilepsy is common in children with CP and can be predicted if seizures occur in the first year of life ,in the neonatal period and based on the need for polytherapy.