Imelda

My 2 year old son had ACTH treatment for Infantile Spasms (west syndrome).  After the ACTH treatment an MRI showed that he had mild atrophy of the brain.  He subsequently (few months later) went on to develop a viral pneumonia.  While in hospital as he struggled to recover from the pneumonia another MRI showed that he had severe generalised cerebral cortical atrophy and subsequently died.

Could the generalised cerebral atrophy be caused by the viral pneumonia or could it perhaps have been a progressive cerebral atrophy (progressing after the ACTH treatment/ Infantile Spasms)?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

I feel sorry for the child. As I was reading the post, I was shocked to read that he died.

It is true that ACTH treatment can worsen the cortical atrophy. In a study of 26 children with Infantile spasms, three showed progressive cortical atrophy with ACTH treatment.

In another study, they have described a particular type of syndrome, which is a cause of West syndrome, to be associated with progressive cortical atrophy.

But I was wondering if the cause of death was pneumonia or something else.

I guess, you can consider the combination of West syndrome, ACTH and pneumonia as the culprits.

Regards