Abstract
A 16 year old boy with epilepsy and learning difficulties is reported. At 3 years of age he was diagnosed with common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and received therapy according to the UK protocol, UKALL VIII. This included prophylactic CNS radiotherapy and chemotherapy. He did not develop CNS leukaemia, and complete remission was achieved. At age 7, he began to experience lethargy and learning difficulties, especially problems with hand-writing, concentration and memory. Furthermore, he began experiencing atypical absence seizures, which were provoked by concentration at times of tiredness. EEG showed bilateral non-specific abnormalities, with some epileptiform features. Over the following 9 years, several anti-epileptic drugs were prescribed. Although with the changes in therapy initial remissions have been achieved, the seizures have, each time, continued to relapse. At age 12, EEG was very abnormal, showing frequent generalized slow or sharp waves. At age 13, MRI revealed multiple discrete small high-intensity lesions in the subcortical white matter of both hemispheres. Problems with lethargy, concentration and memory persist and although multiple anti-epileptic drugs have been prescribed, seizures continue to occur almos...Continue Reading
References
May 7, 1977·Lancet·S SimiläA L Saukkonen
Apr 13, 1978·The New England Journal of Medicine·N Peylan-RamuG Di Chiro
May 1, 1978·Archives of Disease in Childhood·C Eiser
Dec 1, 1977·The Journal of Pediatrics·S McIntoshR O'Brien
Jul 17, 1975·The New England Journal of Medicine·S S SoniM Powazek
Jul 1, 1992·Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry·B G KennyS V Chavda
Jan 1, 1991·Archives of Disease in Childhood·C Eiser
Jan 1, 1986·Annual Review of Neuroscience·G E AlexanderP L Strick
May 1, 1985·The Journal of Pediatrics·P BrouwersD G Poplack
Dec 1, 1973·British Medical Journal·J E FreemanJ M Voke
Jul 3, 1980·The New England Journal of Medicine·D GangjiD G Poplack
Aug 1, 1995·Archives of Disease in Childhood·D ChristieF Vargha-Khadem
Nov 1, 1994·Neuroradiology·E PääkköM Lanning
Jun 1, 1994·Archives of Disease in Childhood·V AndersonT Godber
Sep 21, 1996·Lancet·J Wokke
Jul 1, 1996·Pediatric Neurology·N MitsufujiT Sawada
Jan 25, 1997·Lancet·A K Burnett, O B Eden