Cognitive and behavioral outcome in West syndrome.

Cognitive and behavioral impairments in West syndrome are analyzed at the onset of the disease. Multimodal sensory impairments, namely of the visual function, that are usually associated with the acute stage of the disease, are stressed as possible mechanisms interfering with cognitive development. This notion could open a rehabilitation prospective for functional disorders. Long-term developmental outcome is dependent on various factors, ranging from the primary lesions to the epilepsy evolution and use of drugs, up to environmental factors such as the quality of the family or that of the community within which the infant grows up.