Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] My Daughter is 21 months old. At 3 weeks she had open heart surgery for Shones Complex. After an attempted extubation following surgery she went into cardiac arrest and the doctors performed CPR for 2 1/2 hours on and off. She was in status epilepticus and an MRS showed a strokes in 3 lobes. Her seizure meds(phenobarb and dilantin ) were stopped 1 year ago- when she was about 9 months. She had some mild gross motor delays but from a neurological standpoint, overall she is doing great. She has now been diagnosed with acquired microcephaly . She has always been Failure to Thrive with no known GI issues. Her HC is 17 1/4, height is 31 3/4 and weight is 19lbs. I have started noticing signs of possible petite-mal seizures with the worst lasting about 15-20 sec. My question is: Does Acquired microcephaly tend to be degenerative or regressive in nature? She has hit most milestones to date, but is it possible that she will regress? Also, are the petite mal seizures a result of the microcephaly and can these turn into grand-mal? I have read that the severity of microcephaly and its relationship with developmental delays can correlate with overall growth percentiles. Is it possible that her lack of appetite is caused by the microcephaly and be making it worse at the same time?
[|AI|]  Hello and welcome to Chat Doctor .com. This is going to be a rather long answer.  Please bear with me as I talk through this.  I will also quote a study on this disease process from a journal, Pediatrics.  The article is entitled Acquired Microcephaly: Causes, Patterns, Motor and IQ Effects, and Associated Growth Changes. Acquired (also known as progressive) microcephaly is a condition in which a children head circumference is within the normal range at birth and for an undefined period thereafter but then does not increase as fast as normal and, as a result, crosses percentiles to below the second percentile. In our experience, this is a relatively common form of microcephaly. Although there is extensive literature on microcephaly, there is little on this subtype. Recognized causes include acquired brain damage as well as Rest syn Chat Doctor.