Advances in pediatric neurology?

Some significant advances in the field of pediatric neurology are reviewed. For many constitutional disorders, concepts and diagnostic procedures have progressed from various genetic techniques or from protein labeling in sit u. Many neurodegenerative disorders, some poorly-defined metabolic diseases , and several syndromes associating mental retardation with neurologic or e xtraneurologic malformations have been characterized. In addition, for many disorders viewed as;poorly specific' (mental retardation, epilepsy, migrai ne), familial forms have permitted us to define the first genes involved. I n 'acquired' disorders, new data come from clinical trials (antiepileptic, anti-inflammatory drugs) rather than definite conceptual advances. Finally, clinics and biology are no longer the only approaches to brain functions, and clinical neurophysiology could encounter a second wind thanks to the te chniques of functional imaging, especially in the fields of developmental n europsychology. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.