One of the most terrible diseases is encephalopathy in children. This pathology can be congenital or develop in the process of life. It is a brain lesion that can cause serious complications. The term "Encephalopathy" in medicine is understood as a group of brain diseases of non-inflammatory origin. This disorder appears for many reasons and is caused by damage to brain cells. The disease develops due to pathological changes in nerve cells as a result of a violation of their blood supply, exposure to toxins or infections, hypoxia.
Problem description
Encephalopathy in children is a mixed disorder of the brain that is developing rapidly. Pathology is often formed even in the fetal development of a child at the twenty-eighth week of a woman's pregnancy or a week before childbirth. The disease may appear immediately or after several years.
When the diseaseis congenital, perinatal encephalopathy is diagnosed in children. If the doctor is able to detect the first signs of the disease and prescribe effective therapy, in 90% of cases the symptoms of the pathology can be stopped, and the risk of complications in the future is reduced to zero.
Also, pathology can develop as a result of brain damage in any age period. In this case, we speak of an acquired disease. It can appear with head injuries, metabolic disorders in the body, radioactive radiation and circulatory disorders.
With this disease in children, the blood supply to the brain is disrupted, as a result of which it does not receive enough oxygen. In medicine, cerebral encephalopathy in children is a general abnormal condition and disease of the brain that develops due to the death of its nerve cells.
Disease types
In medicine, it is customary to distinguish the following types of diseases depending on traumatic factors:
- Vascular encephalopathy is characterized by abnormal development of blood vessels, resulting in impaired blood supply to the brain.
- Discirculatory, in which the outflow of blood is disturbed, as a result of which it stagnates in the brain.
- Toxic, which is caused by the effect on brain cells of various toxins in case of neonatal illness, such as jaundice or hemolytic syndrome. In the latter case, we are talking about bilirubin encephalopathy.
- Epileptic encephalopathy in childrenoccurs as a result of transferred encephalitis or meningitis, characterized by the occurrence of epileptic seizures.
- Hypertensive, in which neurocytes are damaged due to constantly high pressure, disorders of the kidneys and adrenal glands.
- Post-traumatic develops due to brain damage, including during labor.
- Wernicke's disease occurs when there is a lack of B vitamins, because of this, brain cells do not receive enough nutrition and die.
- Perinatal encephalopathy in children develops as a result of intrauterine exposure to negative factors on the brain.
- Residular - appears at the age of three due to the impact of negative factors on brain cells.
Causes of pathology
The disease most often develops in the prenatal period, but it can also form in older children due to the impact of various negative factors. The most common reasons are:
- Hereditary predisposition.
- Early pregnancy of a woman, threatened miscarriage or premature birth.
- Preterm baby.
- Birth trauma.
- Infections and medications during pregnancy.
- Disorders of the immune system in a child.
- Encephalopathy, unspecified, develops in children for unknown reasons.
- Infectious diseases in older children, such as rubella.
Risk factors
Negative factors that can provoke the development of encephalopathy include:
- vascular aneurysm, their insufficiency;
- blood diseases such as toxoplasmosis, leukemia, high bilirubin levels;
- infectious and viral diseases such as jaundice, hepatitis, influenza, pneumonia and others;
- diseases of internal organs;
- sepsis;
- maternal diabetes.
The nervous system of children is very delicate. When receiving TBI, the risk of complications increases even after effective treatment. Encephalopathy often develops in children.
Often, pathology develops for several reasons at once. Treatment will depend on what caused the formation of the disease, so the main task of the doctor is to accurately determine the cause of the development of the disease.
Symptoms and signs of illness
Signs of the disease can be subtle or pronounced, so it is important that the child was under the supervision of a neurologist. The severity of symptoms depends on the location of the organic brain lesion, its prevalence and the presence of concomitant pathologies. Of great importance is the age of the child, as well as the degree of development of the nervous system.
Typically, cerebral encephalopathy in children has the following symptoms:
- late cry during childbirth;
- impaired sucking reflex;
- sleep disturbance, continuous crying;
- heart rhythm disorder;
- muscle tone disorder;
- strabismus and head tilt;
- intracranial pressure;
- impaired memory at an early age;
- hyperactivity or lethargy;
- development of neuroses in the form of phobias and panic fear of some objects and environmental phenomena.
As the disease progresses, all these signs become more pronounced. Children develop fainting, intellectual disorder, mental retardation.
Signs of pathology depending on its type
Discirculatory and toxic encephalopathy in children shows symptoms in sleep disturbance, the child cannot fall asleep and constantly cries, he develops a pseudo-neurasthenic syndrome. Over time, dizziness, coordination disorder, blood pressure disorder, hearing and vision impairment, epileptic seizures appear. If left untreated, the disease begins to progress, the child is constantly in a state of prostration, his muscle tone increases, VVD develops, tendon reflexes are disturbed.
With bilirubin encephalopathy, a child has signs of intoxication of the body, loss of appetite, respiratory distress, fever, rolling eyes, in severe cases, cerebral palsy may develop. When edema occurs, the brain expands in size, which is why the baby's head also grows.
Complications and consequences
Usually, perinatal encephalopathy in children (what it is, described above) can be cured withtimely diagnosis and treatment. In the case of extensive brain damage, complications often develop:
- persistent headaches;
- asthenic syndrome;
- epilepsy and hydrocephalus;
- neurosis and depression;
- CP;
- dementia;
- Down syndrome;
- schizophrenia in adulthood;
- diseases of the organs of vision.
Severe consequences
Encephalopathy, which is in children under one year old, is known to many, the disease can have terrible consequences in the form of a lack of nutrition of brain cells. As a result, they die, provoking a stop in the development of important departments and functions of the body. With a pathology of a mixed type, the development of blockage of cerebral vessels is possible. In the case of a large lesion, the probability of death is high. The most severe complications in this case are:
- vision loss;
- aphasia and dysarthria;
- ischemic stroke.
At the first signs of pathology, it is necessary to immediately undergo a course of treatment to prevent the development of complications and swelling of the brain.
Diagnostic measures
Perinatal and residual encephalopathy in children, what it is - described in detail in this article, diagnosed on the basis of anamnesis and examination of the child, as well as the results of laboratory and instrumental studies. During the examination of the patient, the doctor measures blood pressure, then sends for laboratory tests of blood and urine,as well as cerebrospinal fluid. To identify the causes of the development of pathology, the child is sent to the following diagnostic measures:
- MRI and CT.
- Angiography of the brain.
- Doppler and EEG.
- Ultrasound.
According to the results of the above studies, children are diagnosed with encephalopathy.
Therapy
Treatment should be started immediately after the first symptoms of the pathology appear. Necessarily, therapy should include a diet that involves the exclusion from the diet of s alt, saturated fats, and cholesterol. It is recommended to use foods that contain a large amount of iodine, vitamins and ascorbic acid. Together with this, parents should provide the child with outdoor walks, physiotherapy exercises, and massage. Phytotherapy well eliminates the signs of the manifestation of the disease, it is able to minimize the negative consequences of the pathology. It is possible to use essential oils, such as chamomile or lavender, as an additional method of therapy.
Medicated treatment
Treatment of encephalopathy in children is a long and complicated process. The main task of therapy is to eliminate the cause of the development of the pathology and restore the affected brain cells as much as possible. The doctor prescribes the following groups of drugs:
- Neuroprotectors to repair damaged brain cells.
- Drugs that are aimed at improving blood circulation and outflow of venousblood.
- Sedative drugs or tranquilizers to reduce pulsation in cells.
- Hormonal and vasodilator drugs in the form of injections, such as Papaverine or No-shpa.
- Medications for migraine and dizziness.
- Vitamin and mineral complexes to improve metabolic processes in nerve cells.
- Medications that eliminate the symptoms of the disease.
- Electrophoresis.
The doctor selects the dosage of medicines depending on the age of the patient and the degree of symptoms. After completing the first course of therapy, the child is registered with a neurologist, and he must also be periodically examined. The therapy itself can be carried out on an outpatient basis or in a hospital under the constant supervision of physicians. In severe cases, encephalopathy in children requires mechanical ventilation, hemodialysis, or tube feeding. Often, surgery may be required to normalize blood circulation in the brain. In modern medicine, such treatment as stem cell transplantation is practiced. Doctors say that this technique is highly effective.
Together with this child is prescribed massage, exercise therapy, herbal medicine, and after treatment and swimming.
Forecast
Prognosis of the disease is usually favorable with timely treatment. Most children recover without sequelae or complications in adulthood. In severe cases, the development of irreversible processes is possible, whichlead to disability. Often in this case, children experience developmental delay, hydrocephalus, VSD, cerebral palsy, schizophrenia, epilepsy. Therefore, it is important to notice the first symptoms of pathology.
Prevention
Prevention methods include:
- timely treatment of infectious and viral diseases in a pregnant woman or a newborn baby;
- prevention of fetal hypoxia;
- preventing the effects of toxins on the children's body;
- exclusion of addictions in a pregnant woman.
To exclude birth trauma, the doctor must be attentive and accurate, the expectant mother must follow all the recommendations of obstetricians and the doctor during labor. As the child grows, it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of stressful situations. The child must be taught the rules of safety on the street, at home and in childcare facilities in order to avoid head injuries. Parents should monitor the he alth and nutrition of children.
Diagnosis of encephalopathy in children is a tragedy for parents. But this disease can be cured, it is only necessary to start treatment as early as possible. If a pathology is detected immediately after birth, the child has every chance for a full recovery.
