Canavan disease - Treatment

Alternative Names

Spongy degeneration of the brain; Aspartoacylase deficiency

Treatment:

Treatment mostly aims to ease the symptoms of the disease. Lithium and other drugs are being investigated.

Support Groups:

Additional information and resources are available from:

Canavan Foundation: www.canavanfoundation.org
Jacob's Cure: www.jacobscure.org

Expectations (prognosis):

With Canavan disease, the central nervous system breaks down. Patients are likely to become disabled.

Death often occurs before 18 months of age. However, some patients live until they are teenagers or, rarely, young adults.

Complications:

This is often a fatal disorder. It includes severe disabilities such as:

Blindness
Inability to walk
Mental retardation

Calling your health care provider:

Call your health care provider if your child has any symptoms of Canavan disease.

Reviewed last on: 11/10/2010
A.D.A.M. Editorial: David Zieve, MD, MHA, and David R. Eltz. Previously reviewed by Luc Jasmin, MD, PhD, Departments of Anatomy and Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network (10/14/2009).

References

Rezvani I. Defects in metabolism of amino acids. In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 85.

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