Lee KY, et al. - In this study, long-term outcomes and prognostic factors in newborns with neonatal seizures caused by rotavirus-associated leukoencephalopathy were determined. In newborns around 5 days of age, rotavirus-associated leukoencephalopathy could cause adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes with a wide range of severity. The extent of white matter lesion on initial diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images (DWI) could predict the neurocognitive outcome.

Methods

• The records and brain magnetic resonance (MR) images of 32 patients were retrospectively reviewed, who fulfilled the following criteria:
  • Neonatal seizures,
  • Distinctive symmetric cerebral white matter lesions on diffusion-weighted MR images (DWI),
  • Rotavirus infection,
  • Absence of a specific etiology of seizures, except for the aforementioned DWI lesions, and
  • Korean Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (K-BSID-II) assessment after 12 months of age.

Results

• In this study, the mean age at seizure onset was 4.7 ± 0.8 days.
• At the time of K-BSID-II assessment, the median age of the patients was 22 months.
• In the mental and motor scales, 14 patients (43.8%) showed normal or accelerated performance, while 18 patients (56.2%) had delayed performance in the mental and/or motor scales.
• Significantly delayed performances on the mental and/or motor scales were noted in 7 patients (21.9%).
• A significant negative correlation of the percentage of volume of diffusion-restricted lesions based on total brain volume with the mental developmental index (MDI) score (r = -0.507, p=0.003), but not with the psychomotor developmental index (PDI) score (r = -0.324, p=0.071) was apparent.