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Book

Infantile Epileptic Spasms Syndrome (West Syndrome)

Morgan S. Smith  1 , Rebecca Matthews  1 , Michael Rajnik  2 , Pinaki Mukherji  3
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
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Book

Infantile Epileptic Spasms Syndrome (West Syndrome)

Morgan S. Smith et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Infantile epileptic spasms syndrome (IESS) has been reclassified to include patients who do not meet the full West syndrome criteria. Infantile spasms is a seizure disorder that was first described by William West in 1841 and has been referred to as West syndrome. The disorder mainly affects those in their first year of life. The spasms present with characteristic EEG changes known as hypsarrhythmia and a strong association with developmental delay or regression. The disorder has recently been reclassified into infantile epileptic spasms syndrome (IESS) to include those patients who do not meet the full West syndrome criteria.

Infantile spasms have been evaluated for over 170 years regarding etiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, and diagnosis. The features and the importance of early diagnosis and treatment are discussed below.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Morgan Smith declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Rebecca Matthews declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Michael Rajnik declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Pinaki Mukherji declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

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