Microcephaly of the brain in children: symptoms. Microcephaly is ...

Microcephaly is a serious enough disease. It manifests itself in the form of an abnormal development of the brain, which implies a direct reduction in its size. As a result, a child with such a diagnosis unnaturally small parameters of the brain area.

Description of the pathology

Microcephaly is a disease characterized by a decrease in the mass of the brain, as a result of which there is a decrease in the parameters of the skull and the immediate circumference of the head itself. The remaining organs consistently develop according to the accepted age norms. Such changes are the cause of mental inferiority and deviations at the neurological level.

According to available statistics, the disease is diagnosed in one child out of 10,000. There was no clear relationship between the baby's sex and the appearance of microcephaly.

In the brain, with such a pathology, there are signs of serious developmental defects: agnosis of the corpus callosum, heterotopia, and lissencephaly. The cerebral cortex is flattened, the tertiary furrows are almost completely absent. As a rule, in children with this diagnosis, the temporal and frontal lobes, the cerebellum, the brain stem and the visual cusp remain undeveloped.

Doctors distinguish two forms of the disease, such as microcephaly. Symptoms of each of them are almost identical, but they manifest themselves at different times.

The main causes of the disease

• Intoxication of the fetus inside the womb as a result of the influence of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes that the mother abused in the first trimester of pregnancy.
• Disorders of endocrine nature in the future childbirth.
• Postponed by a pregnant lady infectious ailments (eg, toxoplasmosis).
• Intrauterine infection of the baby (mumps, measles, rubella, herpes).
• The effect of certain groups of drugs.
• Mechanical injuries and injuries sustained by the child during childbirth.

Quite often (34% of cases) cerebral microcephaly is caused by chromosomal mutations. They mean the process of changing the gene set, which is the reason for the abnormal development of the baby inside the womb.

It is not uncommon for a child with some deviations to appear in healthy parents. However, neither they nor specialists can determine the factors that influenced the development of the disease.

Clinical picture

Externally, microcephaly is easy to learn, especially the disease is detected in older children. With the normal development of the face in sick infants, underdevelopment of the cerebral region of the head is noted. As you grow older, visual signs of the ailment become visible. The face of the child is large, the forehead has a slope, the head remains small.

Microcephaly in children under one year is manifested by an excessively small head, whose circumference does not exceed 34 cm. However, this factor is not the main factor in the final diagnosis. Very often, a large head of a newborn is an individual feature inherited from close relatives.

There is one more parameter by which it is possible to determine a malaise in the maternity hospital, the circumference of the chest. With this diagnosis, this figure exceeds the size of the circumference of the head, while in healthy babies everything is the opposite.

Thus, doctors distinguish the following signs of the disease:

• Head circumference - 24-30 cm.
• The spring is completely enclosed or small in size.
• The baby has a narrow forehead, strongly protruding ears, convex superciliary arches.
• Muscular dystonia.
• Disproportionate head (brain area abnormally small).
• The height and weight of the baby is much lower than normal.
• Convulsive syndrome.
• Violation of coordination of movements.
• Strabismus.

Microcephaly is a disease in which small patients are characterized by rapid excitability or, conversely, constantly flaccid and apathetic. They relatively late start to hold their heads, sit and even crawl. The brain of these babies is characterized by numerous vices, and its weight does not exceed 500 grams.

Depending on the degree of brain reduction, the disease manifests itself in a different degree of mental inferiority. In each case, everything is individual. A child may be diagnosed with a mild degree of imbecility or a deep form of idiocy.

Congenital microcephaly

The primary form of the disease is an abnormally small skull and insufficient brain development. Pathology is formed in the first or second trimesters of pregnancy due to genetic disorders or the effects of the adverse factors described above. Children with this diagnosis have the opportunity to lead an independent social life.

Secondary microcephaly

Symptoms of the disease are most often accompanied by cerebral palsy. It occurs due to the effect of negative factors in the third trimester of pregnancy, as well as due to injuries and mechanical damage during childbirth. These factors include abuse of mother alcohol and drugs. In patients besides insufficient weight of the brain, inflammatory processes, numerous hemorrhages, necrosis of tissues are observed. At the time of the appearance of the baby, the size of the head can be slightly reduced. However, as it grows up, development slows down, the skull acquires asymmetric forms, and signs of mental underdevelopment appear. Children who have been confirmed with a diagnosis of "microcephaly" in this form, usually can not move independently and even sit.

Diagnostics

Antenatal diagnosis includes ultrasound. During the procedure, the doctor compares the data on the size of the fetal head and body with the normative indices obtained during ultrasound. Reliable information can be obtained only if you know exactly the timing of pregnancy.

Invasive diagnosis is the definition of mutations in genes and chromosomes. Such a study is carried out during the puncture of the amniotic fluid, since the material for the study is the villi of the fetus, amniotic fluid and particles of the epithelium.

Prenatal screening includes ultrasound and a biochemical blood test. Also, the patient is asked to fill out a special form, where among other issues there is a graph on the timing of pregnancy. The data obtained and the results of the analyzes are processed in a special computer program that shows the probability of such a disease as brain microcephaly.

The examination of a newborn is carried out in the very first minutes after it is born on the basis of visual parameters. If the diagnosis is confirmed, a comprehensive examination is additionally assigned.

What should be the treatment?

Microcephaly is an incurable disease, it is impossible to restore normal brain activity, however, there are ways to correct it.

Therapy of the disease implies an integrated approach, whose activities are usually aimed at the physical and intellectual development of the baby for its maximum adaptation in society.

Treatment takes place in three directions:

1. Drug therapy. It is used to stimulate metabolic processes in the brain. For this purpose, sedative, dehydration and anticonvulsants are prescribed (Nootropil, Piriditol, Cerebrolysin).
2. Physiotherapeutic procedures, exercise therapy, massages.
3. Medical measures for the correction of the child's intellectual development. In our country there are special boarding schools for children with lesions of the central nervous system and a diagnosis of "microcephaly." Photos of kids involved in such institutions can be seen in this article.

Treatment of small patients with a primary form of the disease is sometimes successful. With a well-chosen therapy the child will never be completely healthy, but will be able to lead a simplified social life.

As for the secondary form, things are much worse here. Many children, despite serious and persistent treatment, can not master the most basic skills.

Forecast

Microcephaly is a pathology that causes serious mental disorders. Modern medicine, unfortunately, does not give comforting forecasts in relation to patients with such a diagnosis. A complete cure is impossible. The main task of doctors and parents is to teach the child the primary skills of self-care and restore normal motor activity.

According to available statistical data, the average life expectancy with microcephaly due to inadequate development and functioning of the brain is 12-15 years. Very rarely a person lives up to 30 years. As a rule, people with such a disease die due to infectious lesions.

Prevention

Microcephaly of the brain is a relatively rare disease, to prevent the development of which is not possible. If a child with a similar anomaly has already been born in the family, the specialists recommend that parents undergo a special medical genetic examination to assess the risk of similar pathology in the following children.