Neurological Manifestations of Down Syndrome

Abstract

Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal abnormality. A variety of neurological manifestations including stroke, epilepsy, cervical spinal cord compression, and basal ganglia damage may complicate the syndrome. As the neurologists have little chance to see a good number of DS patients and hence their expertise in this field is lesser than psychiatrists, it is suggested that cooperation between both neurologists and psychiatrists especially the learning disability might lead to better outcome of neurological complications of DS. This chapter reviews the commonest neurological complications associated with DS.

Keywords: Alzheimer disease, Antiphospholipid antibodies, Atlanto-axial subluxation, Cerebral infarction, Cervical spinal cord compression, Children, Cognitive functions, Dementia, Down syndrome, EEG, Epilepsy, GABAergic transmission, Hypotonia, Intellectual disability, Memory, Mental retardation, Moyamoya disease, Pronoun comprehension, Protein C deficiency, Stroke, Trisomy 21.