Pediatr. Rep., Volume 11, Issue 4 (December 2019) – 5 articles

Global developmental delay (GDD) and intellectual disability are relatively common in pediatric neurology conditions. A retrospective study was designed to analyze risk factors and clinical features in children with GDD at our hospital. No previous data is available on GDD from Saudi Arabia. This study was conducted at king Fahad specialist hospital Dammam (KFSHD) of 134 GDD children (82, 61% males, 52, 39% females), (age 1-9 years). They were assessed by using Griffith Mental Development Scales for (0-2) years and 3-8 years old in locomotors, personal/social, communication, eye and hand co-ordination, performance and practical reasoning. Patients with ASD and non-cooperative behavior were excluded. 75% had developmental delay since birth while 84% had no problem during pregnancy. 22% had birth weight below 2.5 kg. 56% had epilepsy and 57 % had interfamily marriages. 51% were diagnosed cases in the present study. 40% had genetic cause, 25% had metabolic problem, 58% had neuroradiology abnormality and 45% had EEG abnormalities. There a variety of delays in development (speech and language variant, global delay, and the motor variant) noted and are commonly seen in a clinical practice in KFSHD. Longitudinal research beginning in early development will help to understand the developmental domains and neurological comorbidities in these children at high risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. Full article

We report the case of an 8-years-old girl with recurrent pulmonary infections and wheezing since infancy, in whom asthma and immunoglobulin-G deficiency were diagnosed at the age of 7 months. Since then, the patient was treated for asthma without any satisfactory control of the disease. Cardiomegaly was finally diagnosed radiologically that led to cardiac assessment. Echocardiography suggested left sided partial anomalous pulmonary venous return that was not confirmed at angio-computed tomography scan and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Instead, total absence of the pericardium with relative left lung hypoplasia and left-sided bronchiectasis was diagnosed. Immune defect was confirmed. Adequate treatment by immunoglobulin supplementation and observance of the recommended care of bronchiectasis allowed favorable evolution. This case of an unusual association between an exceptional pericardial malformation and immune deficiency causing lower respiratory tract infections complicated by leftsided bronchiectasis highlights the absolute necessity to explore further any child with insufficient asthma control. Full article

Viral hepatitis B is a public health issue. We establish the children serological profile of hepatitis B in Bobo-Dioulasso, six years after the introduction of hepatitis B vaccine into the Expanded Program on Immunization. This was a descriptive study of prospective data collection carried out in the Department of Pediatrics and the laboratory of virology of the Centre MURAZ of Bobo-Dioulasso between March 2013 and May 2013. Blood samples were made in search of the following hepatitis B serological markers: anti-HBcAb total, HBsAg, Ac anti-HBs, HBeAg, AcHBs, IgM anti-HBc total. The ELISA method with the Monolisa BIORAD reagents was used. A total of 2015 children were included, 1026 (50, 9%) boys and 989 (49.1%) girls, at an average age of 58±48 months. Out of these 2015 children, 53 (2.6%) were positive to HBsAg including 19 vaccinated cases, one child has received 3 doses plus 1 booster dose of hepatitis B vaccine. We found no statistically significant difference in the carriage of serologic markers of hepatitis B between the unvaccinated group and the vaccinated group. Large-scale studies should be carried out in Burkina Faso to see the real impact of vaccination on the health of our populations. Full article

Apert syndrome or acrocephalosyndactyly is a rare genetic disease characterized by craniofacial dysmorphism and syndactyly of the hands and feet. We report an observation in a 4-month-old female infant, whose father was 65 years old. The infant was admitted to the neonatology of Sourô Sanou University Hospital (Burkina Faso) for respiratory distress in a congenital malformation disorders context with the notion of resuscitation for 10 minutes at birth. Her clinical examination revealed a craniofacial dysmorphism, syndactyly, choanal atresia, a cleft palate and a retardation of the psychomotor development. The paraclinical assessment consisted of a radiograph of the skeleton and a cerebral tomodensitometry confirming bicoronal synostosis and bone syndactyly; an abdominopelvic, cardiac ultrasound didn’t reveal any abnormalities; toxoplasmic serology was negative and rubella serology positive. The association of Apert syndrome with positive rubella serology seems fortuitous. Also, the association of choanal atresia and cleft palate has not commonly been reported in Apert syndrome. In the absence of surgical the infant has been followed until 9 months with therapeutic prospects. Full article

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is widely utilized across multiple surgical disciplines, including gynecology. To date, laparoscopy is considered a common surgical modality in children and adolescents to treat gynecological conditions. Robotic surgical devices were developed to circumvent the limitations of laparoscopy and have expanded the surgical armamentarium with better magnification, dexterity enhanced articulating instruments with 5-7 degrees of freedom, and ability to scale motion thus eliminating physiologic tremor. There are well-documented advantages of MIS over laparotomy, including decreased post-operative pain, shorter recovery times, and better cosmetic results. Indications for MIS in pediatric gynecology are reported in this review and technical considerations are described to highlight new treatment perspectives in children and adolescents, which have already been described in the literature regarding adult patients. Full article