Oct9 M3-Pediatric Neurology Flashcards
neuro hx in neuro peds
standard medical hx but with particular interest on
- gestational and perinatal hx
- FHx ask many qs, consanguinity
- dev history (school, plateau, regression)
- handedness (dominance of one hand over the other for movements) is abnormal before the age of 18 months
plateau vs regression def
plateau: acquired a developmental milestone (you ask about these)
regression: lose an already acquired milestone. NEVER normal.
handedness before 18 mo: what’s happening
focal neurological deficit
4 domains dev milestones are divided in
- gross motor
- fine motor
- language
- personal and social
- have charts for that. draw age of child and know what should be doing for their age*
examples of dev milestones
- walking at 12 mo
- primitive pincer grasp at 9 mo
- smiles at 6 weeks
global developmental delay def
- significant delay in at least 2 dev domains
- we say this for children <5 (5+ = intellectual delay)
imp thing on exam
- observation (alertness, tone, etc.)
- standard neuro exam with special interest on
- dysmorphism + look at parents
- growth parameters head circumference child + parents
- organomegaly
- skin exam (pigmentation hyper hypo)
- spine
- axial and appendicular (peripheral) tone
- primitive reflexes in babies (disappear at a certain age)
examples of way to test for hypotonia
- frog position when baby lies on bed on their back
- traction of hands up when baby lying on their back + head lags down
- lift baby by abdomen horizontally = body should be horizontal
- vertical suspension by the chest under the shoulders: no flexion = axial hypotonia
causes of axial and peripheral hypotonia in infants
CNS (Central) or PNS (peripheral) problem (axial hypotonia doesn’t mean CNS problem)
peripheral cause of hypotonia: charact
- decreased reflexes
- no other features except joint abnormalities
- Fhx of muscle or nerve prob
central cause of hypotonia charact
- increased muscles + sustained clonus (few beats of clonus is NORMAL)
- abnormal lvl of consciousness (encephalopathy)
- seizures
- dysmorphism
- Hx of posible CNS insult (infection, hypoxia), usually in low apgar at birth, acidotic fluids at birth, baby born flat
epilepsy def
- two UNPROVOKED seizure at at least 24hr apart
- one seizure with recurrence risk estim to be >60%
- child with palsy and extremely active EEG and recur risk >60% after ONE seizure
- dx of epilepsy syndrome with classical seizures and sx and features
classif of seizures
- generalized
- focal (starts at one location and can spread to adjacent and distant region = secondary generalization): with or without impairment of consciousness
ex of meds exclusively for focal seizures
CBZ and phenytoin (both gen and focal in another lecture)
ex of meds exclusively for generalized seizures
ethosuximide (absences)