Frequency, Causes, and Findings of Brain CT Scans of Neonatal Seizure at Besat Hospital, Hamadan, Iran

OBJECTIVE: Neonatal seizures are the most common neurological symptoms and often signal an underlying serious neurologic condition. This study determines the frequency of neonatal seizure, predisposing factors, and brain computed tomography (CT) scan findings. MATERIALS & METHODS: In a descriptive cross-sectional study, we evaluated all neonates with seizures who had been hospitalized in Besat hospital from 2007–2012. All data were gathered with questionnaires and used to compare with statistical tests by SPSS (ver 16). RESULTS: 141 (4.08%) neonates (M:F; 1:2.2) were diagnosed with neonatal seizures. From the total number of 3,452 neonatal hospitalization, 78% of neonates with seizures were less than 10 days old and 60.3% of infants were born from natural vaginal delivery. As the most common cause, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in this study was associated with 31.3% (n=44) of neonatal seizures and with the highest mortality rate (n=6). Among admitted neonates with seizures, the overall mortality rate was 12.8% (18 cases). A total of 33.3% of patients (47 cases) had abnormal CT scan reports and 24.8% (35 cases) of patients were not evaluated with a CT scan. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (47%) and local ischemic changes (25.5%) were the most common findings in the CT scans of neonates with seizures. CONCLUSION: There was a significant correlation between neonatal seizures and delivery circumstances (p-value < 0.05). Therefore, with improvement of obstetric and delivery circumstances, early detection of predisposing factors and other rare conditions, and rapid effective treatment of these contributing factors, the rate of neonatal seizure in this period can be reduced.