ValleyCare.com/maternity
UCSF ANDVALLEYCARE’S COLLABORATION
provides advanced medical care in our own community.
UCSF Benio Children’s Hospital is consistently ranked
among the
nation’s top children’s hospitals
by
U.S.News &
World Report
.
A
S
A
t 10 months, Luke Cole was like any other happy,
healthy infant his age. His parents, Scott and
Ayako, of Dublin, were pleased that he, like
his 3-year-old brother, Noah, had reached all of his
developmental milestones on schedule, from imitating
sounds at 6 months to pulling himself up to stand at
7 months. Nothing in Luke’s development or in his
family history indicated that a frightening medical
situation was on the horizon.
One day, upset and crying, Luke suddenly stopped
breathing and his skin began to turn blue. He
recovered within a few minutes, but over the next
few months these episodes continued, always
beginning suddenly, provoked by his
becoming upset, and subsiding as
quickly as they came. Approximately
two months after his rst episode,
Luke experienced another spell,
again provoked by becoming
upset, but this time was di erent.
In addition to this spell lasting
longer than previous ones, Luke’s
body shook and became sti and he
became increasingly unresponsive. His parents
called 911.
By the time the paramedics arrived, Luke was back
to normal. At his subsequent visit with his pediatrician,
Luke was referred to pediatric neurologist Sheila Jenkins,
MD, at UCSF Benio Children’s Hospital’s ValleyCare
Specialty Clinic.
After a thorough examination, Dr. Jenkins concluded
that Luke’s episodes were cyanotic breath-holding spells,
a relatively common condition among children between
6 and 18 months of age. In addition to iron supplements,
which are shown to be e ective in decreasing the
frequency of breath-holding spells, Dr. Jenkins
suggested distracting Luke when he is
leading up to a breath-holding spell—and,
if an episode occurs, placing him in a
lying-down position until he recovers.
She also assured the Coles that
episodes like Luke’s occur in perfectly
healthy children and are not epileptic
in nature and that, like the vast
majority of children with this condition,
he should outgrow them by the age of 4.
For more about
the UCSF Pediatric
Specialty Clinic at
ValleyCare, visit
www.ucsfbenio
childrens.org/
valleycare
.
Breath-Holding Spells
for
Mysterious
Luke Cole
Family
Finds
Answers
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