DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS OF HYPSARHYTHMIA AND INFANTILE SPASMS

Abstract

In the course of electroencephalographic studies on patients with epilepsy an abnormal pattern has been found that is peculiar to infants and young children. It occurs in patients with brief quivering spells, myoclonic jerks or spasms.1 This pattern (chart 1) has been called hypsarhythmia (mountainous arhythmia) and the clinical state with which it is associated is referred to as infantile spasms. The present report is based on 237 cases with hypsarhythmia and infantile spasms. For the most part this group is made up of patients who were referred for electroencephalographic study by private physicians in the Chicago area; a few came from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Illinois School of Medicine; 60% were males and 40% were females. On referral they bore such diagnostic labels as "colic," "petit mal epilepsy," "myoclonia," "spasms nutans" and "spasmophilia."