Infantile spasms (West syndrome): update and resources for pediatricians and providers to share with parents.

Shared by Open Archive Curator • medicine • 2012

This article is from BMC Pediatrics , volume 12 . Abstract Background: Infantile spasms (IS; West syndrome) is a severe form of encephalopathy that typically affects infants younger than 2 years old. Pediatricians, pediatric neurologists, and other pediatric health care providers are all potentially key early contacts for families who have an infant with IS. The objective of this article is to assist pediatric health care providers in the detection of the disease and in the counseling and guidance of families who have an infant with IS. Methods: Treatment guidelines, consensus reports, and ori