Prognosis
• Overall prognosis is highly dependent on the underlying cause. For example, a patient who experienced significantly long periods of oxygen deprivation at birth will have severe, irreversible brain injury and not be expected to improve with treatment of the IS. On the other hand, children without any identifiable cause are more likely to have a good outcome.
- Risk of intellectual disability
* Nearly 45% will have significant intellectual disabilities.
* A small percentage has no identifiable cause (idiopathic) and will be intellectually normal.
- Risk of persistent epilepsy into adulthood
* IS progresses to Lennox Gastaut Syndrome (see chapter) in approximately one third of cases.
• Risk of death
- In some series, the risk of death was a high as one-third of patients