•Lesion features predict inter-hemispheric reorganization of language comprehension.•Reorganization is predicted by lesion type in left sided congenital brain lesions.•Reorganization is associated ...with lesions to left insula and supramarginal gyrus.
Pre- or perinatally acquired (“congenital”) left-hemispheric brain lesions can be compensated for by reorganizing language into homotopic brain regions in the right hemisphere. Language comprehension may be hemispherically dissociated from language production. We investigated the lesion characteristics driving inter-hemispheric reorganization of language comprehension and language production in 19 patients (7–32years; eight females) with congenital left-hemispheric brain lesions (periventricular lesions n=11 and middle cerebral artery infarctions n=8) by fMRI. 16/17 patients demonstrated reorganized language production, while 7/19 patients had reorganized language comprehension. Lesions to the insular cortex and the temporo-parietal junction (predominantly supramarginal gyrus) were significantly more common in patients in whom both, language production and comprehension were reorganized. These areas belong to the dorsal stream of the language network, participating in the auditory-motor integration of language. Our data suggest that the integrity of this stream might be crucial for a normal left-lateralized language development.
This article describes associated impairments in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and its subtypes.
Children born between 1990 and 2006 recorded in the Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe ...common database were studied. An "impairment index" characterized severity of impairments and their combinations.
Amongst the 11,015 children analyzed, 56% (
= 5,968) could walk unaided, 54% (4,972) had normal or near-normal intellect (intelligence quotient ≥ 70). Except for ataxic CP, associated impairments were less frequent when walking ability was preserved. The impairment index was low (walking unaided and normal or near-normal intellect) in 30% of cases; 54% (
= 1,637) in unilateral spastic, 24% (
= 79) in ataxic, 18% (
= 913) in bilateral spastic, and 7% (
= 50) in dyskinetic CP. Around 40% had a high impairment index (inability to walk and/or severe intellectual impairment ± additional impairments)-highest in dyskinetic (77%,
= 549) and bilateral spastic CP (54%,
= 2,680). The impairment index varied little in birth weight and gestational age groups. However, significantly fewer cases in the birth weight group ≤ 1,000 g or gestational age group ≤ 27 weeks had a low impairment index compared to the other birth weight and gestational age groups (23 and 24% vs. between 27 and 32%).
Thirty percent of the children with CP had a low impairment index (they were able to walk unaided and had a normal or near-normal intellect). Severity in CP was strongly associated to subtype, whereas the association was weak with birth weight or gestational age.
Objective
Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease caused by deficient activity of arylsulfatase A (ASA), resulting in severe motor and cognitive ...dysfunction. This phase 1/2 study evaluated the safety and efficacy of intravenous (IV) recombinant human ASA (rhASA; HGT‐1111, previously known as Metazym) in children with MLD.
Methods
Thirteen children with MLD (symptom onset < 4 years of age) were enrolled in an open‐label, nonrandomized, dose‐escalation trial and received IV rhASA at 50, 100, or 200 U/kg body weight every 14 (± 4) days for 52 weeks (NCT00418561; NCT00633139). Eleven children continued to receive rhASA at 100 or 200 U/kg during a 24‐month extension period (NCT00681811). Outcome measures included safety observations, changes in motor and cognitive function, and changes in nerve conduction and morphometry.
Results
There were no serious adverse events considered related to IV rhASA. Motor function and developmental testing scores declined during the study in all dose groups; no significant differences were observed between groups. Nerve conduction studies and morphometric analysis indicated that peripheral nerve pathology did not worsen during the study in any dose group.
Interpretation
IV rhASA was generally well tolerated. There was no evidence of efficacy in preventing motor and cognitive deterioration, suggesting that IV rhASA may not cross the blood–brain barrier in therapeutic quantities. The relative stability of peripheral nerve function during the study indicates that rhASA may be beneficial if delivered to the appropriate target site and supports the development of rhASA for intrathecal administration in MLD.
In light of the growing number of surviving children born very preterm, there is an increasing focus on their long‐term outcomes in terms of growth, metabolic status, and neurocognitive development. ...Therefore, it is of importance to follow such children from birth onwards with the aim of identifying the causes of atypical development, developing preventative measures, and improving outcomes. Since such long‐term follow‐up needs to be conducted with the least possible burden, clinical investigations such as anthropometry and neurocognitive tests, if conducted rigorously, will continue to have a predominant role. The aim of this review is to discuss the complexity of longitudinal anthropometry in children born very preterm and to provide an overview of the main studies that have examined associations between growth, in particular head growth, and neurocognitive outcomes at around school age.
What this paper adds
For optimal follow‐up of children born very preterm, anthropometric and neurocognitive investigations need to be combined.
Objectives
Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) has characteristic white matter (WM) changes on brain MRI, which often trigger biochemical and genetic confirmation of the diagnosis. In early or ...pre‐symptomatic disease stages, these typical MRI changes might be absent, hampering early diagnosis. This study aims to describe the characteristics of MRI WM abnormalities at diagnosis, related to clinical presentation.
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed brain MRIs of MLD patients followed in 2 centers at the time of diagnosis regarding MLD MRI score and presence of tigroid pattern. In addition, MLD subtype, symptom status, CNS/PNS phenotype, motor/cognitive/mixed phenotype, and the presence of CNS symptoms were evaluated.
Results
We included 104 brain MRIs from patients with late‐infantile (n = 43), early‐juvenile (n = 24), late‐juvenile (n = 20) and adult (n = 17) onset. Involvement of the corpus callosum was a characteristic early MRI sign and was present in 71% of the symptomatic late‐infantile patients, 94% of the symptomatic early‐juvenile patients and 100% of the symptomatic late‐juvenile and adult patients. Symptomatic early‐juvenile, late‐juvenile and adult patients generally had WM abnormalities on MRI suggestive of MLD. By contrast, 47% of the early‐symptomatic late‐infantile patients had no or only mild WM abnormalities on MRI, even in the presence of CNS symptoms including pyramidal signs.
Interpretation
Patients with late‐infantile MLD may have no or only mild, nonspecific abnormalities at brain MRI, partly suggestive of ‘delayed myelination’, even with clear clinical symptoms. This may lead to significant diagnostic delay. Knowledge of these early MRI signs (or their absence) is important for fast diagnosis.
Krabbe disease or globoid cell leukodystrophy is a severe neurodegenerative disorder caused by a defect in the GALC gene leading to a deficiency of the enzyme ss-galactocerebrosidase. The aim of this ...work was to describe the natural disease course covering the whole spectrum of the disease. Natural history data were collected with a standardized questionnaire, supplemented by medical record data. We defined different forms of the disease according to Abdelhalim et al. (2014). Developmental and disease trajectories were described based on the acquisition and loss of milestones as well as the time of first clearly identifiable symptoms and needs such as spasticity, seizures and tube feeding. MRI was assessed using the scoring system by Loes et al. (1999) and in addition a pattern recognition approach, based on Abdelhalim et al. (2014). Thirty-eight patients were identified, from 27 of these patients 40 MRIs were available; 30 (79%) had an infantile onset, showing first symptoms in their first year of life, almost all (27 out of 30) starting in the first six months. A later onset after the first year of life was observed in 8 patients (21%, range 18 months to 60 years). Irritability, abnormalities in movement pattern as well as general developmental regression were the first symptoms in the infantile group; disease course was severe with rapid progression, e.g. loss of visual fixation, need for tube feeding and then an early death. Gait disorders were the first symptoms in all patients of the later onset groups; progression was variable. The different forms of the disease were characterized by different MRI patterns (infantile: diffuse white matter involvement and cerebellar structures specifically affected, later onset: parieto-occipital white matter and splenium affected, adult: motor tracts specifically affected). This is the first description of the natural history of Krabbe disease in a larger European cohort using developmental, clinical and MRI data. We would like to highlight the very different clinical and MRI characteristics of the later onset forms. These data are important for counselling affected patients and families and may serve as a basis for future treatment trials.
Metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease caused by deficiency of arylsulfatase A (ARSA). Subsequent accumulation of sulfatides leads to demyelination and ...neurodegeneration in the central and peripheral nervous system. To date MLD is classified based on the age at onset, however, especially for late onset forms this classification provides only limited projection regarding the clinical disease course. Moreover, evolving newborn screening approaches raise the need to predict the disease onset and course in pre-symptomatic individuals. Here, we correlate the ARSA activity and the ARSA-genotype with clinical parameters in a large cohort of 96 affected individuals.
Clinical data of 96 affected individuals with genetically and/or biochemically confirmed MLD were collected from a national database. Leukocyte samples from 69 affected individuals were re-analyzed for the ARSA activity using p-nitrocatecholsulfate as substrate with a refined ARSA assay towards the lower limit of detection. For 84 individuals genetic sequencing was conducted by Sanger or next generation sequencing (NGS).
The adapted ARSA assay revealed the discriminatory power to differentiate MLD subtypes as the residual enzyme activity was low in late infantile and early juvenile forms, and clearly higher in late juvenile and adult MLD (p < 0.001). A residual enzyme activity below 1% compared to controls predicted an early onset (late-infantile or early-juvenile) and rapid disease progression. A firm genotype-phenotype correlation was proven as reliable for bi-allelic protein-truncating variants in the ARSA gene resulting in minimal residual ARSA activity, an early onset of the disease and initial decline of motor functions. Although the impact of missense variants was equivocal, few variants with a recognizable clinical spectrum were identified.
ARSA activity in leukocytes as well as the ARSA genotype can predict the age of disease onset and the dynamic of disease progression for most of the early onset forms. This knowledge is relevant for patient counseling and to guide treatment decisions, especially when identifying pre-symptomatic individuals, e.g., in newborn screening. However, due to the high cumulative frequency of rare disease-causing missense variants in the ARSA gene that lead to highly variable residual enzyme activity, reiterated biochemical and genetic studies are needed to improve disease course prediction.
Objective
To evaluate the longitudinal correlations between sulfatide/lysosulfatide levels and central and peripheral nervous system function in children with metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) and ...to explore the impact of intravenous recombinant human arylsulfatase A (rhASA) treatment on myelin turnover.
Methods
A Phase 1/2 study of intravenous rhASA investigated cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and sural nerve sulfatide levels, 88‐item Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM‐88) total score, sensory and motor nerve conduction, brain N‐acetylaspartate (NAA) levels, and sural nerve histology in 13 children with MLD. Myelinated and unmyelinated nerves from an untreated MLD mouse model were also analyzed.
Results
CSF sulfatide levels correlated with neither Z‐scores for GMFM‐88 nor brain NAA levels; however, CSF sulfatide levels correlated negatively with Z‐scores of nerve conduction parameters, number of large (≥7 μm) myelinated fibers, and myelin/fiber diameter slope, and positively with nerve g‐ratios and cortical latencies of somatosensory‐evoked potentials. Quantity of endoneural litter positively correlated with sural nerve sulfatide/lysosulfatide levels. CSF sulfatide levels decreased with continuous high‐dose treatment; this change correlated with improved nerve conduction. At 26 weeks after treatment, nerve g‐ratio decreased by 2%, and inclusion bodies per Schwann cell unit increased by 55%. In mice, abnormal sulfatide storage was observed in non‐myelinating Schwann cells in Remak bundles of sciatic nerves but not in unmyelinated urethral nerves.
Interpretation
Lower sulfatide levels in the CSF and peripheral nerves correlate with better peripheral nerve function in children with MLD; intravenous rhASA treatment may reduce CSF sulfatide levels and enhance sulfatide/lysosulfatide processing and remyelination in peripheral nerves.
Objective
Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) is a rare disorder leading to demyelination and neurological impairment. A natural history study within the German leukodystrophy network analyzed MRI ...changes with respect to the clinical course.
Methods
113 MR images of 68 patients (33 late-infantile, 35 juvenile) were studied cross-sectionally and longitudinally. MRI and motor deterioration were assessed using standardized scoring systems.
Results
The temporal and spatial patterns of MR severity scores differed between the late-infantile and juvenile form. Although early (involving central white matter, corpus callosum) and late signs (involving pons, cerebellum, cerebral atrophy) were similar, high MRI scores (mean 18, SD 1.2, p < 0.001) were evident in the juvenile form already at the onset of first symptoms and even in presymptomatic patients. The progression rate of the MRI score was clearly higher and more uniform in the late-infantile (on average 8 per year, p < 0.0001) than in the juvenile patients (on average 0.4 per year, p < 0.08). In late-infantile patients, MRI changes correlated highly with motor deterioration (rho = 0.73, p < 0.001), this was less remarkable in the juvenile form (rho = 0.50, p < 0.01). Severe motor dysfunction was associated with U-fiber involvement and cerebellar changes (p < 0.05).
Conclusions
MRI showed a typical spatial pattern, which evolved gradually and uniformly during disease progression in late-infantile MLD. In juvenile MLD MRI changes were already observed at disease onset and temporal patterns were more variable. As therapeutic options for MLD are evolving, these findings are not only important for patient counseling but also for the evaluation of therapeutic interventions.
IMPORTANCE: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been the only treatment option clinically available during the last 20 years for juvenile metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), ...reported with variable outcome and without comparison with the natural course of the disease. OBJECTIVE: To compare the long-term outcome of patients who underwent allogeneic HSCT with control patients who did not among a cohort with juvenile MLD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Patients with juvenile MLD born between 1975 and 2009 and who received HSCT at a median age of 7 years (age range, 1.5-18.2 years) and nontransplanted patients with juvenile MLD born between 1967 and 2007 were included in this case-control study. The median follow-up after HSCT was 7.5 years (range, 3.0-19.7 years). Patients underwent HSCT at 3 German centers between 1991 and 2012. The analysis was done between July 2014 and August 2015. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Survival and transplantation-related mortality, loss of gross motor function (Gross Motor Function Classification in MLD), loss of any language function, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) severity score for cerebral changes. To explore prognostic factors at baseline, patients who underwent HSCT (hereafter, transplanted patients) were a priori divided into stable vs progressive disease, according to gross motor and cognitive function. RESULTS: Participants were 24 transplanted patients (11 boys, 13 girls) and 41 control patients (22 boys, 19 girls) who did not receive transplantation (hereafter, nontransplanted patients) with juvenile MLD. Among the transplanted patients, 4 children died of transplantation-related mortality, and 2 additional children died of rapid MLD progression 1.5 and 8.6 years after HSCT, resulting in a 5-year survival of 79% (19 of 24). Among the nontransplanted patients, 5-year survival after disease onset was 100% (41 of 41). However, 11 died of MLD progression, resulting in similar overall survival within the observation period. Nine of the long-term survivors after HSCT had disease progression, while 11 showed stable disease. Compared with the nontransplanted patients, the transplanted patients were less likely to lose their gross motor or language function and demonstrated significantly lower MRI severity scores at the latest examination. Patients after HSCT were more likely to have a stable disease course when undergoing HSCT at an early stage with no or only mild gross motor deficits (Gross Motor Function Classification in MLD level 0 or 1) and an IQ of at least 85, when age at disease onset was older than 4 years, or when MRI severity scores were low (preferably ≤17). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among patients with juvenile MLD, patients who underwent HSCT had a better gross motor and language outcome and lower MRI severity scores compared with nontransplanted patients. Transplantation at a presymptomatic or early symptomatic stage of juvenile MLD is associated with a reasonable chance for disease stabilization.
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