Sindrome opercular en Pediatría: revisión del tema y presentación de tres casos clínicos / Opercular syndrome in paediatrics: clinical review and three case reports

RESUMO

The opercular syndrome is a rare neurological disease, affecting a small area of the telencephalic cortex overlying the insula known as operculum. Clinical signs are loss of voluntary control of orofacial muscles, with preservation of reflexes and automatic actions such as crying and laughing. Three cases of opercular syndrome are reported. The first is a boy with congenital bilateral parasylvian(?) syndrome; the second is a boy with opercular syndrome secondary to an acute viral encephalitis; and the third is a boy with psychomotor retardation whose diagnosis was established while being studied for convulsions. Aetiology, clinical aspects and imaginology of yhe syndrome - occasionally also affecting adults - are reviewed and discussed.