Perinatal brain injuries and subsequent epilepsy: a study on intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm infants and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in full-term infants

The clinical course of symptomatic epilepsy caused by intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in 7 preterm infants and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in 9 full-term infants were followed up for more than 2 years and 6 months. West syndrome was the first manifestation of epilepsy in 10 cases (IVH: 4, HIE: 6), and all 16 patients had severe neuropsychiatric deficits. Comparing with children without epilepsy, IVH grades III and IV, mechanical ventilation for more than 6 days and neonatal convulsions in the patients with IVH, and mechanical ventilation and neonatal convulsions in the patients with HIE, were significantly related to the risk of subsequent epilepsy. These findings suggest that the degree of brain injuries may be predictive of the development of epilepsy during infancy and early childhood in the patients with IVH or HIE.