Early posttraumatic epilepsies (EPTE) are epileptic attacks that appear in first seven days after brain injury, with incidence of 3-5%. Predictors for development of EPTE are: impressive skull fracture with rupture of dura, intracranial haemorrhage, neurogical deficit (brain contusion), and posttraumatic amnesia longer than 24 hours. It is more common in children than in adolescents and adults. It carries four times increased risk for development of late posttraumatic epilepsy. Aspects of pharmacological prophylaxis was often considered, but scientifically neglected, without clear standings regarding controversial data in literature. Patients with severe head injury, hospitalised at Neurosurgical Hospital and Pediatric Hospital, Clinical Centre University of Sarajevo, in period from 6th of April 1992 till 1st of July 1994, were included in study. Prophylaxis of EPTE was carried out with phenobarbital (2-3 mg/kg) or phenytoin (3 mg/kg) parenterally. Decision was made upon clinical findings. CT scan was done in 13.5% patients, and in 31.9% patients serum concentrations of antiepileptic drugs were monitored. 310 patients aged 0-18 years (105 patients 0-10 years, and 205 patients 11-18 years) were investigated. Predictors of EPTE presented were posttraumatic amnesia longer than 24 hours in 90.6%, neurogical deficit in 86.45%, impressive skull fracture with rupture of dura in 81.3% and intracranial haemorrhage in 40.6%. Only two boys developed EPTE in first 24 hours after injury. This study has showed that use of antiepileptic drugs can decrease incidence of EPTE. However, problem remains, management of injured patients is still highly individualised, based on different experiences of doctors that treat patient, and without clear guidelines.

Massive gathering of clinical records started quite soon, at the turn of the last century, about 100 years ago. In that period keeping and gathering of medical records gradually evolved from paper medical records to computer-based medical records. Software that we use for this is quite different. We are witnessing tendency that each medical institution is creating software solely for their use, that leads to difference of gathered medical data and their validity for further analysis. In this paper we tested value of gathering and processing medical records through a hospital software, regarding time consumption in everyday work, as well as value of gathered and processed data. Statistically significant difference was found in terms of time needed for complete gathering and processing of medical data of hospitalized patients, as well as most of its segments (administering of admission, forming a medical history, forming a discharge letter). No statistically significant differences were found in terms of value of gathered and processed data in the forms of electronical records, compared to those formed on "traditional" basis. We conclude that the future of gathering, forming and processing of medical documentation of hospitalized patients is solely through interactive computer databases, and that their everyday spreading through all systems and levels of health care is absolutely necessary. Only that way we shall be able to fully use possibilities that such interactive system offers in improving management of patients.

Growth in role of data warehousing as strategic information for decision makers is significant. Many health institutions have data warehouse implementations in process of development or even in production. This article was made with intention to improve general understanding of data warehousing requirements form the point of view of end-users, and information system as well. For that reason, in this document advantages and arguments for implementation, techniques and methods of data warehousing, data warehouse foundation and exploration of information as final product of data warehousing process have been described.

UNLABELLED Infant walkers are mobile wheeled seats that allow infants to move around with their feet on the floor. They enable precocious locomotion in very young, otherwise prelocomotor infants. Prelocomotor walker experience prevents visual access to the moving limbs. Infant walker use can be associated with delay in achievement of normal locomotor milestones. Besides delayed motor development, contractures of the calf muscles and motor development mimicking spastic diparesis may appear. In the case of infant walker's use for the infants at risk for development of cerebral palsy, multiple side effects can be produced: the persistence of positive support reflex, heel cord contractures, subluxation and dislocation of the hips or pronation contractures of the upper extremities. The use of infant walkers increases the risk of injuries. The study has enrolled 150 children and their mothers, from three big cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, Bihać, Zenica). All relevant data have been collected through the questionnaires. 130 children (86.6%) have used infant walkers. The mean age when the use of infant walker has started was 7 months. The mean time of daily use of infant walker was 1 hour 49 minutes. Twenty three children had various motor disturbances, 13 out of them (56.5%) have used infant walker. The mild injuries caused by using the infant walkers have been registered in 17 cases (11.3%). 83 mothers (55.3%) were aware of infant walker's nocuous effects. CONCLUSION The use of infant walkers has been spread widely under our circumstances. There is significant discrepancy between mothers' knowledge about nocuous effects of infant walkers and their practice. The use of infant walkers for infants with motor disturbances is especially harmful. The main reason for using infant walker, despite of its harmfulness, was mother's preoccupation with everyday household activities. It is necessary to engage health professionals to support antiwalker campaign (warning labels on the infant walkers, public education programs, etc). We recommend safer alternatives for child daycare, like stationary activity centers (so called "fenced play gardens".

Fluid collections surrounding the brain (pericerebral fluid collections) in infants can be caused by a variety of conditions: benign enlargement of the subarachnoid space, passive dilatation of the subarachnoid space due to brain atrophy, subdural hygroma and subdural effusion as a result of meningitis or subdural haematoma. An enlarged frontal subarachnoid space and normal or minimally enlarged ventricular size, with normal or increase head circumference is relatively common finding in infancy. Without associated brain anomalies, this finding predicts normal development of the child. In our study, we have followed up psychomotor development of 22 children, with increased diameters of subarachnoid spaces, detected by ultrasound examination of the brain, without associated brain anomalies. The inclusion criterion for study was enlarged subarachnoid space, measured at the conventional coronal section at the level of the interventricular foramen. The upper limits of each measurements were: 3 mm for sinocortical width, 4 mm for craniocortical width and 6 mm for the interhespheric width. The patients have been followed up to the age of 24 months. Each of them had normal development. 16 of them had normal head circumference. 6 of them had head circumference above the 97th percentile and their head circumference measurements have been plotted for the next 6 months after the diagnosis, to be certain that growth is paralleling the normal curve. It is important to differ benign enlargement of subarachnoid space from brain atrophy, which is quite "serious" diagnosis, with poor neurodevelopmental prognosis. The brain atrophy has been presented with passive dilatation of subarachnoid space and ventriculomegaly, as well. In the case of benign enlargement of subarachnoid space normal or minimally enlarged ventricular size is present. For proper interpretation of this ultrasound finding, correlation with head circumference is necessary. We recommend the head circumference percentile chart to be enclosed to the each brain sonography finding. The algorithm of the further neurological evaluation differs significantly in the case of benign enlargement of subarachnoid space and brain atrophy. In the case of benign enlargement of subarachnoid space further neuroimaging procedures are not needed (in our study it has been done for 6 patients). If the brain atrophy is suspected, further complete neurological examination is necessary.

Carbamazepine is the one of the most prescribed antiepileptic drugs in treatment of partial and generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Its efficacy in treatment of seizures was discovered incidentally during the trials of neuroleptic drugs. Generally it is well tolerated with relatively rare serious side effects. Therapy is introduced gradually, with mean dose between 10-20 mg/kg, and given this way it has the least side effects. Aim of the study was to assess interaction between efficacy, tolerability and overall efficacy of the first prescribed drug, in this case carbamazepine, in the group of patients with partial seizures and generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Patients hospitalized at University Pediatric Hospital in Sarajevo with newly diagnosed epilepsy and started therapy with carbamazepine in period from 07.1999 to 07.2002 were investigated. There were 89 patients that fulfilled the criteria. In 29 patients seizures remitted after the introduction of therapy (32.58%). After the subsequent correction of therapy further 8 patients were seizure free. In total, drug was efficient as a monotherapy in 68 patients (76.40%). Other antiepileptic drugs or polytherapy with carbamazepine were tried in the patients that were not seizure free. Adverse effects were reported in 28 patients (31.46%). The most frequent was benign leucopoenia (16 patients, 17.97%) that did not require changes in therapy. Rash was found in 8 patients (8.98%), out of which in 6 therapy had to be stopped. Compliance with therapeutic regime was slightly better with controlled release formulation (89.98%) then with simplex formulation (77.52%), but generally was good. We think that carbamazepine is still the drug of the first choice in treatment of patients with partial epileptic seizures and generalized tonic-clonic seizures. It showed good overall efficacy with relatively rare serious side effects.

Breath holding attacks are most common in children aged 6 months to 6 years, in 76% of cases between 6 and 18 months of age. Very often they are misinterpreted as tonic epileptic seizures. They are provoked by frustration, anger or sudden injury. Child starts to cry, then holds the breath at the end of expirium. After a few seconds it becomes cyanotic, and losses consciousness. It is usually floppy, but sometimes stiffness, and clonic seizures can be present, and child can be diagnosed as having epilepsy. The form in which child is pale is less frequent, and crying is usually brief or even absent in this type. Breath holding attacks usually do not last more then one to three minutes. Good heteroanamnesis is essential for diagnosis, revealing provoking factors for each attack. Interictal EEG registration is usually normal. Attacks often spontaneously cease after 5 or 6 years of age, and do not require any medical treatment. In more severe cases behavioral therapy has shown good results. It has been noticed that those children in adolescence have syncope more frequent then rest of population. Seventeen children (12 male and 5 female) were investigated at Pediatric Hospital in Sarajevo as breath holding attacks in period from June 1997 to June 2000. Age of patients was between 5 months and 5.5 years (median was 11 months). Hypochromic anemia was present in 12 patients (76%), with average hemoglobin value of 8.2 g/dl (5.9-11.0 g/dl). All children had normal EEG recording. Iron therapy gave positive response in 8 out of 9 patients that were followed (88.9%). Three patients had not come for follow up. It is concluded that hypochromic anemia is often a part of clinical presentation of breath holding attacks in children, and iron therapy can stop them.

The clinical algorithm is a text format that is specially suited for presenting a sequence of clinical decisions, for teaching clinical decision making, and for guiding patient care. Clinical algorithms are compared as to their clinical usefulness with decision analysis. We have tried to make clinical algorithm for managing status epilepticus in children that can be applicable to our conditions. Most of the algorithms that are made on this subject include drugs and procedures that are not available at our hospital. We identified performance requirement, defined the set of problems to be solved as well as who would solve them, developed drafts in several versions and put them in the discussion with experts in this field. Algorithm was tested and revised and graphical acceptability was achieved. In the algorithm we tried to clearly define how the clinician should make the decision and to be provided with appropriate feedback. In one year period of experience in working we found this algorithm very useful in managing status epilepticus in children, as well as in teaching young doctors the specifities of algorithms and this specific issue. Their feedback is that they find that it provides the framework for facilitating thinking about clinical problems. Sometimes we hear objection that algorithms may not apply to a specific patient. This objection is based on misunderstanding how algorithms are used and should be corrected by a proper explanation of their use. We conclude that methods should be sought for writing clinical algorithms that represent expert consensus. A clinical algorithm can then be written for many areas of medical decision making that can be standardized. Medical practice would then be presented to students more effectively, accurately and understood better.

In retrospective study we analyzed 19 patients who were diagnosed and cured because of leukemia at Pediatric clinic in Sarajevo during last two years. From that number, 15 children (78.9%) were with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), 3 (15.7%) were with acute myeloic leukemia (AML) and 1 was with chronic myeloic leukemia. Among all pediatric malignancies percent of leukemias was 40.4%. Most of children with leukemia from Canton of Zenica-Doboj (42.1%) and then from Canton of Sarajevo (31.5%). Illness began mostly in winter months (36.5%), than in early spring (26.3%), and in autumn (26.3%), but there were no newly diagnosed in summer (July and August). More children with leukemia were from rural areas (57.8%), than from urban areas (42.2%).

Vigabatrin has been in clinical use for 18 years. It has not been used widely in our country because of unavailability and costs of therapy. After the end of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina we started to use it in treatment of childhood epilepsies. We studied 19 patients that received vigabatrin as add on therapy and monotherapy. Follow up period was 6 months to 2 years. Nine of those patients were diagnosed as West syndrome, three had tuberous sclerosis, seven had intractable partial epilepsies. In the group with West syndrome 7 patients (5 as add on therapy and 2 as monotherapy) responded with complete control of seizures and disappearing of hypsarrhythmia in electroencephalographic recordings. One patient responded with reduction of seizures for 50%, one did not respond. In the group with tuberous sclerosis 1 was completely seizure free, one had reduction of seizures for 75%, one did not respond. Out of 7 patients with intractable partial epilepsies 3 responded with reduction of seizures between 75%-100%, 1 with reduction of seizures of 25%-50%, and 3 did not respond. Vigabatrin was well tolerated, we did not experience any serous adverse reactions. This antiepileptic drug can be a major improvement in treatment of some of the epileptic syndromes and needs further investigation.