[Motor function compensation in patients with infantile residual encephalopathy and epilepsy following hemispherectomy].

The author studied the time-course of motor function in the paretic and healthy limbs of 12 patients who underwent hemispherectomy. The neurological symptomatology, H-reflex parameters, and the results of a series of motor tests were appraised. In the acute postoperative period, the short-lived signs of central shock in the paretic limbs were observed, which were then replaced by increased excitability of the central nervous system on the side of the hemiparesis. Besides cessation of attacks and epileptic activity on the ECG in the late period, the author recorded total rise of the threshold of H-reflex production and improvement in the performance of the motor tests in unispheric patients, which were regarded as signs of epilepsy compensation.