RE Children's Project
Rasmussen's encephalitis (RE) is a rare neurological disease that causes intractable epileptic seizures, cognitive deficits and paralysis of 1/2 of the body. The disease process typically runs its course over a 1 to 2 year period during which time one half of the body is rendered useless — hemipelegia — and epileptic seizures continue unabated.
RE typically affects previously normal children aged between two and ten years. An unusual feature of the disease that sets it apart from other inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, is that it is usually confined to one hemisphere of the brain. RE is resistant to standard anti-seizure medicines thus making possible the only known "cure" for the condition — a surgical hemispherectomy — the removal or disconnection of the affected side of the brain. Recent progress in understanding of the disease, and the emergence of therapies that slow disease progression and help control symptoms, has led some researchers to believe that more targeted and effective medical treatments are potentially within reach.
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