Parotid and submandibular botulinum toxin A injections for sialorrhoea in children with cerebral palsy.

The aim of this study was to determine whether botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) injected into the parotid and submandibular salivary glands of children aged 6 to 16 years with cerebral palsy (CP) and relative sialorrhoea significantly decreases their drooling and improves their quality of life. Twenty children (10 males, 10 females; mean age 10y 1mo [SD 3y 8mo]; range 6y 1mo-16y 7mo) with CP, identified as having significant daily drooling (scoring at least 6 on drooling frequency/severity scales) were recruited. BTX-A (2U/kg; maximum 70U) was injected under sedation, using ultrasound guidance (1.4U/kg and 0.6U/kg divided between parotid and submandibular glands respectively). Nineteen children completed the study: 15 with spastic quadriplegia (Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] Level V); one with dystonia (GMFCS Level V); one with hemiplegia (GMFCS Level II); and two with a mixed pattern of CP (GMFCS Levels III and V). Drooling was assessed by five methods at baseline, and 4 and 12 weeks after injection. Qualitative assessment of drooling frequency and severity scores showed statistically significant reductions at 4 weeks (p<0.001) and 12 weeks (p=0.006). Qualitative assessment of quality of life scores (rated by parents and teachers separately) also significantly improved (p<0.001 and p=0.023 respectively). Quantitative assessments showed that the number of bibs/scarves changed per day was significantly reduced at 4 weeks (p<0.001). There was no side effect from the injections themselves; 89% of parents and children wished for further intrasalivary BTX-A injections in the future. We conclude that percutaneous intrasalivary BTX-A injections into the parotid and submandibular salivary glands can reduce drooling in children with CP and relative sialorrhoea, leading to an improvement in their quality of life.

Congenital and postnatally acquired cytomegalovirus infections: long-term follow-up.

To determine long-term outcome of children with inapparent congenital cytomegalovirus infection, an assessment of congenitally infected children observed since birth was undertaken. Children with early postnatal acquisition of CMV infection were also evaluated. Cognitive, behavioral, neurologic, audiometric, and speech and language evaluations were performed in 48 patients, including 17 congenitally infected children, 10 children with postnatal infection, and 21 uninfected control subjects. Mean IQ of the three groups of children did not differ significantly. Behavioral, neurologic, speech and language examinations similarly failed to distinguish differences among the three groups. Audiologic abnormalities were present in four congenitally infected children, including one child with a severe unilateral sensorineural loss; in none of the children was hearing loss functionally significant. No hearing abnormalities were detected in postnatally infected children. Although inapparent CMV infection can result in audiologic sequelae, the continued lack of cognitive, behavioral, and neurologic sequelae in these school-age children reemphasizes the need to focus attention on prevention of primary maternal CMV infection to avoid the potentially devastating effects of intrauterine CMV infection.

Unilateral right cerebral representation of reading in a familial left-hander.

Several recent hypotheses of cerebral functional organization in natural left-handers hold that language, including reading, is localized either unilaterally in the left hemisphere or bilaterally, but not unilaterally in the right hemisphere. A case of alexia without agraphia in a left-hander with an infarct in the right occipital lobe and splenium of the corpus callosum is reported. That a permanent and complete alexia resulted from a single, right hemisphere lesion indicated that reading was completely lateralized to that hemisphere. The case demonstrates that in some natural left-handers language functions can be unilaterally represented in the right hemisphere.