a2zmedicalnote

In 1841, the general practitioner W.J. West from Tunbridge wrote a letter to the editor of Lancet entitled “On a peculiar form of infantile convulsions.” West’s goal was to draw the attention of his colleagues to “a very rare and singular species of convulsions peculiar to young children.” He described his son’s symptoms in detail, in a letter conveying both the objectivity of the physician and the frustrations of a father with a severely ill child. This description includes all of the features of the entity currently called “infantile spasms” The term Infantile spasms syndrome defines an epileptic syndrome occurring in children younger than 1 year (rarely older than 2 years), with clinical spasms usually occurring in clusters whose most characteristic EEG finding is hypsarrhythmia [the spasms are often associated with developmental arrest or regression]. Some definitions: West syndrome: Combination of spasms in clusters and an EEG pattern of hypsarrhythmia and delayed brain developmen...