Neuropsychological Alterations in Children Affected by Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome By Marco Carotenuto, Rosa Marotta, Francesco Precenzano, Maria Ruberto, Lucia Parisi, Beatrice Gallai, Annabella Di Folco, Margherita Salerno, Agata Maltese, Francesca Felicia Operto and Michele Roccella
Sleep-related breathing disorders are a group of clinical conditions ranging from habitual snoring to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) during the lifespan. In children, other risk factors are represented by adenotonsillar hypertrophy, rhinitis, nasal structure alteration, cleft palate, velopharyngeal flap surgery, pharyngeal masses, craniofacial malformations, genetic syndrome (i.e. Down syndrome, Crouzon syndrome, and Apert syndrome), genetic hypoplasia mandibular (i.e. Pierre Robin syndrome, Treacher Collins syndrome, Shy-Drager syndrome, and Cornelia De Lange syndrome), craniofacial traumas, chronic or seasonal rhinitis, asthma, neuromuscular syndromes, brainstem pathologies (i.e. Arnold-Chiari malformation and Joubert syndrome), achondroplasia, and mucopolysaccharidosis. OSAS may affect the executive functioning such as motivational ability, planning, behavior modulation, ability to complete an action program, identification of functional strategies to achieve the goal, problem solving, flexibility, monitoring and self-assessment of behavior in relation to results, change of task, or behavior in the light of emerging information, which may be all impaired by nocturnal intermittent hypoxia also during the developmental age. The clinical presentation of OSAS can mimic other neurobehavioral symptoms, such as ADHD syndrome, learning problems, or can exacerbate the Fragile X syndrome, and generalized non-convulsive epilepsy symptoms.
Part of the book: Updates in Sleep Neurology and Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Childhood Absence Epilepsy By Luigi Vetri, Carola Costanza, Margherita Siciliano, Francesco Precenzano, Beatrice Gallai and Marco Carotenuto
Childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) is a common epilepsy syndrome characterized by absence seizures affecting young children and representing 18% of all diagnosed cases of epilepsy in school-age children. Absence seizures are classically very frequent during the day and each seizure lasts a short time, from about 10 to 20 seconds, it ends abruptly, and awareness and responsiveness are severely impaired. The typical EEG pattern in CAE is a bilateral, synchronous, and symmetrical discharge of complex spike-wave rhythms at 3 Hz (range of 2.5–4 Hz), with sudden onset and termination. CAE is genetically determined, the mode of inheritance and genes involved remain not fully clarified but the final outcome is the dysregulation of cortico-thalamic-cortical circuit that plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of absence seizures. CAE may have an impact on patients’ lives in terms of negative consequences in neurocognitive and neuropsychological aspects that should always be considered during a global evaluation of a child with epilepsy.
Part of the book: Epilepsy During the Lifespan
