Developmental medicine and child neurology
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Dev Med Child Neurol · Jan 2011
Outcome following decompressive craniectomy for malignant middle cerebral artery infarction in children.
Mortality from malignant middle cerebral artery infarction (MMCAI) approaches 80% in adult series. Although decompressive craniectomy decreases mortality and leads to an acceptable outcome in selected adult patients, there are few data on MMCAI in children with stroke. This study evaluated the frequency of MMCAI and the use of decompressive craniectomy in children. ⋯ Decompressive craniectomy can lead to a moderately good outcome for children with MMCAI and should be considered, even with symptomatic stroke and deep coma. Monitoring of intracranial pressure may delay life-saving treatment.
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Dev Med Child Neurol · Oct 2010
Comparative StudySurvival with Rett syndrome: comparing Rett's original sample with data from the Australian Rett Syndrome Database.
rett syndrome is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that typically affects females. Little is known about the natural history and survival time of these females. ⋯ our data indicate that survival of females with Rett syndrome has improved since the late 1960s but that there has been shown no change in survival over the last 30 years, possibly because the follow-up time has been too short.
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Dev Med Child Neurol · Sep 2010
Comparative StudyAnthropometric measures: poor predictors of body fat in children with moderate to severe cerebral palsy.
This purpose of our study was to assess and compare anthropometric measures of adiposity and direct measurement of percentage body fat by dual emission X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in children with cerebral palsy (CP). We also compared our results in children with CP with results from a national sample of typically developing children from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. ⋯ Single anthropometric measures do not perform well in predicting percentage body fat in children with or without CP. Further work is needed to develop clinically useful and simple assessments that will predict percentage body fat and to determine the relation between percentage body fat and health to guide clinical practice.