Journal of child neurology
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The background activity on neonatal electroencephalography (EEG) is a good prognostic indicator. An EEG suppression burst pattern usually indicates severe brain dysfunction and has been considered to be associated with a serious neurodevelopmental outcome. We report here a 2-year-old girl who developed generalized convulsions without any perinatal brain insult at 3 days of age. ⋯ However, her seizures were well controlled with the oral administration of carbamazepine, and the suppression burst pattern on EEG disappeared at 27 days of age. Unexpectedly, she developed normally for the following 2 years. Although children with normal development, despite the appearance of suppression burst, are extremely rare, and the reason why this patient showed a favorable outcome remains unknown, the clinical course of this patient proved that an EEG suppression burst pattern is not always associated with a poor prognosis.
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When the etiology of syncope is considered, age is a major parameter. Breath-holding spells are thought of as an entity of early childhood, whereas neurogenic syncope is limited to older children and adults. ⋯ Her response to vagal stimulation is consistent with that seen by other investigators in both entities. We propose that pallid breath-holding spells and neurogenic syncope are the same entity.