[Infantile spasms (infantile myoclonic encephalopathy with hypsarrhythmia)].

Abstract

The paper reports on a very important aspect in a pediatric practice, referring to one of the most severe forms of epilepsy of the infant, known in the modern specialty literature as infantile spasms. The paper reviews the etiologic data of the disease in its secondary form, with emphasis on the form of the disease better studied in the last years, i.e. the so-called infantile benign epileptic spasms. The paper also analyzes the clinical and electroencephalographic aspects, discuss the most important aspects of the differential diagnosis that includes some entities recently individualized and appreciates, on the basis of the most topical literature data, the nature of the different treatment means used, and of the evolution and prognosis.