All issues > Volume 36(7); 1993

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1993;36(7):975-981. Published online July 15, 1993.

A Clinical Study on Patients with Porencephaly

Sung Yoon SY Cho¹, Jai Yoon JY Kim¹, Kwang Sun KS Han¹, Sa Jun SJ Chung¹, Chang Il CI Ahn¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Porencephaly is relatively rare condition defined by a defect or cavity in the cerebrum owing to a developmental malformation or to a destructive lesion. Forty-five porencephaly patients diagnosed by Brain CT were clinically analyzed and the following results were obtained. 1) By the age group presenting initial symptoms, the peak incidence was from 1 month to below 3 years old. 2) In initial symptoms, seizure, spastic weakness, headache were showed in order of frequency. But 7 cases (15.5%) were asymptomatic. 3) The latency of diagnosis after presenting initial symptoms was various from the symptom onset time to 10 years. 4) The subsequent symptoms were as follows: spastic weakness, speech disturbance, gait disturbance, mental retardation, sensory loss and seiqure showed independently or combined. 5) As etiologic factor, 21 cases (46.7%) were congenital, 16 cases (35.5%) were post-traumatic or post-operative and 8 cases (17.8%) were perinatal. 6) The prognosis was seen various from mild to severe. Out of 45 cases , 29 cases (64.4%) were no complications. But the prognosis in patients with post-traumatic or postoperative etiological factors was poor. With the advent of brain CT and the resultant capability of detecting structural defect and cerebral lesions responsible for epilepsy or focal neurolocic signs, porencephaly was seen to be readily recongizable by CT examination. Since porencephaly is a significant contributor to the spectrum of CNS lesion and benign condition, its recognition is important in determining prognosis and therapy.

Keywords :Porencephaly, Brain CT