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Background: Acute transverse myelitis (ATM) in children is a rare and often severe disease for which there are few known prognostic factors, particularly the subsequent risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis., Objectives: To determine the clinical course and prognostic factors after a first episode of ATM in children., Methods: Thirty children below 16 years of age diagnosed with a first neurological episode of ATM were included retrospectively. Clinical evaluation, treatment, laboratory, and MRI data were collected., Results: Median age at onset was 11 years (range 3-15 years). Follow-up data were available for a median of 4 years (range 0.5-16.7 years). Five patients subsequently had a diagnosis of MS (17%), which was associated with acute partial transverse myelitis (odds ratio 5; 95% confidence interval 2.3-11), with a 60% probability of having a relapse at five years (p < 0.01). The 2011 Verhey criteria correctly identified MS in children with the highest specificity (96%) and sensitivity (80%)., Conclusion: Acute partial transverse myelitis and brain MRI abnormalities at initial presentation are significantly predictive of a subsequent diagnosis of MS in children with ATM. These findings suggest that closer brain MRI monitoring after acute partial transverse myelitis might make the earlier introduction of disease-modifying therapies possible., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

Objectives: To differentiate onset of CNS involvement in primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) from that of other CNS inflammatory diseases and to identify early symptoms linked to abnormal cognitive outcome., Methods: Forty-six children with primary HLH who had neurologic evaluation within 2 weeks and brain MRI within 6 months of diagnosis were included. Initial symptoms, CSF study, brain MRI, and neurologic outcome were assessed. Brain MRIs were compared with those of 44 children with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)., Results: At disease onset, 29 children (63%) had neurologic symptoms and 7 (15%) had microcephaly. Twenty-three (50%) children had abnormal CSF study, but only 15 (33%) had abnormal brain MRI. The latter showed that patients with HLH, unlike patients with ADEM, had symmetric periventricular lesions, without thalamic and brainstem involvement and with infrequent hyposignal intensity on T1. At the end of follow-up (3.6 ± 3.6 years), 17 of the 28 (61%) surviving patients had normal neurologic status, 5 (18%) had a severe neurologic outcome, and 6 (21%) had mild cognitive difficulties. Abnormal neurologic outcome was not influenced by age or type of genetic defect, but by the presence of neurologic symptoms, MRI lesions, or abnormal CSF study at onset. Early clinical and MRI symptoms may regress after treatment., Conclusion: Neurologic symptoms are frequent at the onset of primary HLH and are mostly associated with abnormal CSF findings, but with normal brain MRI. In cases of abnormal brain MRI, the observed lesions differ from those of ADEM.

Introduction: Behçet disease (BD) is a systemic vasculitis which can affect the neurological system. Neuro-Behçet's disease (NBD) is not well described in children., Objective: Our study aimed to analyse the clinical patterns of paediatric NBD and to describe their repercussions on children's schooling., Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 12 NBD children and a phone interview of patients and their physicians to investigate their last physical and schooling status., Results: In 40 BD patients reviewed, 12 (sex ratio 8M/4F) had neurological involvement. The mean age of onset was 11 years. In 4 cases, neurological symptoms were the initial presentation. In other cases, NBD occurred within a mean time of 10 months after BD was diagnosed. Cerebral venous thromboses were frequent (5/12) as compared to recurrent meningoencephalitis (2/12), rhombencephalitis (2/12), transverse myelitis (1/12), peripheral neuropathy (1/12) or psychiatric disturbances (1/12). 9 patients had sequelae and 8 had difficulties in learning. 6 stopped at middle school level. For the other patients, an arrangement of the teaching environment was needed due to visual, auditory and concentration disorders., Conclusion: Neurological involvement is frequent in BD children and its consequences could be severe. Timely accommodations are required to facilitate their ability to follow the normal curriculum., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)