Infantile Spasms Video Perspectives

Healio spoke with Eric Kossoff, MD, about screening, diagnosing and treating infantile spasms.

“Infantile spasms is a condition that we actually do see a fair bit of,” he said. “Although it’s relatively uncommon amongst pediatric epilepsy, we see probably about one to two cases every month at Johns Hopkins, and I think that truly is the case at most academic medical centers.”

Infantile spasms occur in about one in 2,000 babies, according to Kossoff, director of the child neurology residency program and professor of neurology and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

In this video series, he discusses:

• global “gold standards” of treatment for infantile spasms;
• the ketogenic diet to treat new onset and refractory infantile spasms;
• signs and symptoms of infantile spasms and when pediatricians should consider referral;
• underlying reasons for infantile spasms;
• possible long-term complications;
• challenges for pediatric neurologists treating infantile spasms;
• differing data on combination therapy; and
• areas of focus for future research.

References:

• Grinspan ZM, et al. Neurology. 2021;doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000012511.
• Lim Fat MJ, et al. J Child Neurol. 2011;doi:10.1177/0883073811402345.
• O’Callaghan FJK, et al. Lancet Neurol. 2017;doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(16)30294-0.

Disclosure:

Kossoff reports serving as a consultant for Cerecin and Nutricia.