Ann Trop Paediatr
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Review Case Reports
Fatal myeloencephalopathy due to intrathecal vincristine administration.
Vincristine was accidentally given intrathecally to a child with leukaemia, producing sensory and motor dysfunction followed by encephalopathy and death. Separate times for administering vincristine and intrathecal therapy is recommended.
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Intussusception is one of the leading causes of bowel obstruction in early infancy and childhood. From 1984-1989, 67 patients under 2 years of age with intussusception were diagnosed and treated in our institution. There were 48 boys and 19 girls ranging in age from 2 months to 2 years with a mean of 7.4 months. ⋯ There was no case of perforation during enema reduction. Three children had recurrence within 3 months of initial presentation. The best outcome is associated with early diagnosis and barium enema reduction, or selected surgical intervention when indicated.
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A total of 522 children, aged 1 month to 6 years, who presented with convulsions and fever of acute onset at the Children's Emergency Room of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital over a 1-year period, were prospectively evaluated. Bacterial meningitis was diagnosed in 22 (4.2%) on bacteriological and/or biochemical evidence. The causative organisms were cultured from the CSF in 13 (Neisseria meningitidis = 7, Streptococcus pneumoniae = 5 and Haemophilus influenzae = 1) and identified by Gram stain only in three (Gram-positive diplococci = 2 and Gram-negative diplococci = 1). ⋯ Six of the children with bacterial meningitis lacked classical meningeal signs but had other indications for lumbar puncture. The following were significantly associated with meningitis: age under 6 months; focal or multiple seizures; absence of a past or family history of seizures; unrousable coma; and an extracranial focus of infection. It is concluded that bacterial meningitis occurs in a good proportion of children, even beyond infancy, with convulsions associated with fever of acute onset, and that decision on the need for lumbar puncture should be guided by clinical features such as age and the presence of complex febrile seizures.
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Of 965 children with neurological disorders seen in the Child Neurology Clinic of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu over a 3-year period (1985-87), 80 (8.3%; 41 boys and 39 girls) had speech problems. The most common speech disorder was dyslalia. Twenty-six (32.5%) of the 80 children were mentally retarded. ⋯ There was a disturbingly high rate of default from follow-up, 30 of the patients (37.5%) failing to keep appointments at the clinic after the first assessment. Also, there was a long delay between onset of symptoms and presentation to hospital (mean delay 45.3 months). With the recent acquisition of the services of a speech therapist by the hospital, it is hoped that the prognosis for children with speech problems will be considerably improved.
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A 2.5-year retrospective study of pyogenic meningitis in hospitalized children in Kelantan was carried out with regard to aetiology, clinical features, investigation, treatment and outcome. There were 58 children with 43 cases (74.1%) occurring below the age of 1 year. Frequent presenting symptoms included fever (98.3%), fits (77.6%), anorexia (39.7%), vomiting (34.5%) and drowsiness (12.1%). ⋯ All but two of the eleven deaths occurred in children younger than 1 year. Nineteen of the 35 (54.3%) survivors attended for at least one follow-up after discharge from hospital. Of these 19 children, 47.4% had neurological sequelae.