CORTICAL MALFORMATIONS - A SIGNIFICANT CAUSE OF PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGICAL MORBIDITY

Disorders of cortical development are a significant cause of epilepsy, developmental delay and congenital neurological deficits in children of all ages. Disruption of neuronal proliferation, differentiation, mi gration and organization during the middle trimester are recognized as the basis of most of these disorders. With advances in magnetic reson ance imaging and increasing recognition of the characteristic radiolog ical appearance of these lesions, a variety of lesions are now describ ed. Furthermore, detailed clinical and genetic studies have lead to th e recognition of clinicopathological syndromes of cortical maldevelopm ent with specific modes of inheritance. Our understanding of these dis orders is increasing rapidly and will continue to do so with improveme nts in neuroimaging, advances in developmental neurobiology and height ened clinician awareness.