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UPDATED: Tue, 08/11/2009 - 10:24am

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Etiology/Causes

Seventy to eighty percent of patients with LGS have an identifiable cause for the syndrome, leaving 20 to 30% without an identifiable cause. Prior to the onset of LGS, 17 to 30% of patients have a history of infantile spasms, a type of seizure that is part of West Syndrome. Patients with a prior history of infantile spasms have a significantly worse prognosis. LGS has many causes, many of which are associated with diffuse brain injury. Typical examples of underlying pathologies or causes for LGS include encephalitis, meningitis, tuberous sclerosis complex, brain malformations, perinatal injury including hypoxic-ischemic (deprivation of blood flow and oxygen to the brain) encephalopathy, trauma and frontal lobe injuries. The cause associated with the syndrome will likely affect the prognosis, and sometimes the therapeutic strategies.

Author: James Wheless, M.D.
Topic Editor: Robert Fisher, M.D., Ph.D.
Last Reviewed: 8/7/09

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