Acute cerebellitis in varicella: a ten year case series and systematic review of the literature

Italian Journal of Pediatrics

Alberto Villani⁴  Andrzej Krzystofiak⁴  Daniela Longo³  Valeria Calcaterra¹  Alberto Eugenio Tozzi²  Mauro Bozzola¹  Elena Bozzola⁴ 

[1] IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Pavia, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy;Epidemiology Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy;Department of Imaging, Neuroradiology Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy;Department of Pediatric, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Pediatric and Infectious Diseases Unit, IRCCS, Rome, Italy

关键词: Children;    Cerebellitis;    Varicella;   

Others  :  800809
DOI  :  10.1186/1824-7288-40-57

 received in 2014-01-28, accepted in 2014-06-11,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Acute cerebellitis (AC) is the most common neurological complication of varicella. Nevertheless, it has been scarcely studied. The objective of this study were to asses the occurrence of AC among children hospitalized for varicella and to analyze its specific clinical picture and outcome.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of children admitted to the hospital for varicella between 1^st October 2003 and 1^st June 2013 and we compared our results with literature. Children were all unvaccinated for varicella.

Results

In our case series, AC was found out in 48 out of 457 patients (10.5%). The highest frequency of AC was observed in children from 1 to 5 years of age (60.9%). The most characteristic symptom of AC was a broad-based gait disturbance that progressed gradually over the course of a few days (95.8%). Other common symptoms included slurred speech (37.5%), vomiting (31.25%), headache (29.16%), dysmetry (25%) and tremor (22.91%). After a long hospitalization (median of 11 days), all but one children were dismissed without invalidating sequelae.

Conclusions

Data from this study may help to better address the problem of varicella cerebellar complications in hospitalized children and to monitor changes over time caused by an increase in vaccination coverage.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Bozzola et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 2.

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