The clinical, laboratory and neuroradiological findings in 19 children with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection were retrospectively reviewed for features of epilepsy in 7 (37%), in a study at Osaka Medical Center, Japan. Partial seizures occurred in 5 at a mean age of 20 months (range 2-37 months), West syndrome occurred in 3 patients. Seizures were uncontrolled at time of last follow-up (mean 96 months) in 6 patients. Neonatal clinical features (gestational age, gender, birth asphxia, microcephaly, chorioretinitis, neonatal seizure) were not predictive of development of epilepsy with CMV, whereas imaging abnormalities (ventricular dilatation and migration disorder) were risk factors. [1]
COMMENT. Neuroradiographic findings, rather than clinical symptoms at birth, are most predictive of development of epilepsy in children with CMV infection. West syndrome in 43% of 7 patients in this series is a lower prevalence for this seizure type than expected.