pediatrics
Neonatal Seizure Disorders
Symptoms and Signs of Neonatal Seizure Disorders
Neonatal seizures are usually focal and may be difficult to distinguish from normal neonatal activity because they may manifest as chewing or bicycling movements. Common manifestations include migratory clonic jerks of extremities, alternating hemiseizures, and primitive subcortical seizures (which cause respiratory arrest, chewing movements, persistent eye deviations or nystagmoid movements, and episodic changes in muscle tone). Generalized tonic-clonic seizures are uncommon. Clinically silent electrical seizure activity is often present after a hypoxic-ischemic insult (including perinatal asphyxia or stroke) and in neonates with CNS infections, especially after initial antiseizure medication treatment, which is more likely to stop clinical manifestations than electrical seizure activity. 