PMID: 9661710Jul 14, 1998Paper

Leukoencephalopathy after CNS prophylaxis for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Pediatric Rehabilitation
M D Spencer

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

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
Aug 1, 1995·Archives of Disease in Childhood·D ChristieF Vargha-Khadem
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

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Dec 20, 2002·Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology·Sampath MadhyasthaK Laxminarayana Bairy

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Absence Epilepsy

Absence epilepsy is a common seizure disorder in children which can produce chronic psychosocial sequelae. Discover the latest research on absence epilepsies here.

Blood And Marrow Transplantation

The use of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or blood and marrow transplantation (bmt) is on the increase worldwide. BMT is used to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells. Here is the latest research on bone and marrow transplantation.