Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Behçet Uz Children's
Hospital, Izmir, Turkey | Department of Pediatric Neurology, Dr. Behçet Uz
Children's Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
Note: [] Correspondence: Dr. Tanju Çelik, Department of Pediatrics,
Dr. Behçet Uz Children's Hospital, Alsancak, Izmir, 35210 Turkey. Tel.: +90
532 7163537; Fax: +90 232 4892315; E-mail: dr.tanju35@ hotmail.com
Abstract: Vitamin B12 deficiency may cause a wide variety of signs and
symptoms such as macrocytic anemia, neurodevelopmental delay or regression,
cerebral atrophy, polyneuropathy, paresthesias, degeneration of spinal cord,
ataxia, irritability, weakness, hypotonia, apathy, tremor, seizures, and
neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and dementia. However, its
association with epileptic spasms has been reported in only one patient before.
Thus, the role of coincidence or association remains controversial. This
article presents a 10-month-old girl with B12 deficiency presenting with
epileptic spasms, psychomotor regression, and suppression-burst pattern on
electroencephalography. After exclusion of other causes of epileptic spasms
such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, cortical malformations, or
neurodegenerative diseases through extensive neuroimaging and laboratory
investigations, epileptic spasms were regarded as the presenting clinical
picture of underlying vitamin B12 deficiency. Epileptic spasms may be a
neurologic manifestation of underlying vitamin B12 deficiency.
