Infantile spasms

[Dave Paprocki]

In infantile spasms, children suddenly raise and bend their arms, bend their neck and upper body forward, and straighten their legs.

The spasms are usually caused by serious brain disorders.
Many children who have infantile spasms also develop abnormally or have intellectual disability.
Electroencephalography is done to diagnose the disorder, and analysis of samples of blood, urine, and the fluid around the spinal cord as well as brain imaging help doctors identify the cause.
Injecting adrenocorticotropic hormone into a muscle or giving a corticosteroid or vigabatrin (an antiseizure drug) by mouth often helps control the spasms.

Infantile spasms are a type of seizure. A seizure is an abnormal, unregulated electrical discharge that occurs within the brain and temporarily interrupts normal brain function.
Infantile spasms last for only a few seconds but typically occur close together in a series that lasts several minutes. Children may have many series of spasms a day. Spasms usually start when children are younger than 1 year of age. They may stop by 5 years of age, but often, another type of seizure then develops.

[Dave Paprocki]

Infantile spasms are seizures characterized by sudden flexion of the arms, forward flexion of the trunk, extension of the legs, and hypsarrhythmia on electroencephalography. Treatment is adrenocorticotropic hormone or sometimes vigabatrin .
Infantile spasms last a few seconds and can recur many times a day. They usually manifest in children