Outcome of Infants at Risk of Brain Damage after Katona Neurohabilitation Therapy

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate Katona's neurohabilitation therapy in preterm and term infants with risk factors for brain damage followed up to 24 months of age.Methods: 262 infants from 25 to 40 weeks of gestational age (GA) were treated with neurohabilitation beginning before 2 months of corrected age. Treatment was intensive, sustained for at least 12 months and required family participation. Neuropediatric examinations, MRI and Bayley-II scales were performed.Results: Abnormal MRI findings were observed in 80% of infants (increase in lateral ventricle volumes, decrease in corpus callosum volume, diffuse and cystic periventricular leukomalacia, diffuse white matter abnormalities, haemorrhages, infarcts).Outcome: Bayley-II scales showed that 20% of infants with a GA of less than 29 weeks and less than 15% of infants with a 30-40 week GA had significantly delayed MDI and PDI scores. Conclusion:Diagnosis and treatment using neurohabilitation in new-borns at risk of brain damage is recommended.

Intellectual Development in Mexican Preterm Children at Risk of Perinatal Brain Damage: A Longitudinal Study

“…This would allow for the implementation of intervention strategies and programs based on scientific evidence, such as neurohabilitation programs based on the Katona method [ 55 , 56 ] and neuropsychological programs focused on specific cognitive processes [ 57 ] that are complemented in their design by the clinical experience, empirical, and theoretical knowledge of the different professionals involved in child cognitive intervention.…”

Longitudinal Subcortical Volumes and Neurodevelopment in Extremely Preterm Children Treated Early with Katona Neurohabilitation

“…The protocol includes newborn infants aged three months or less (corrected age) with prenatal and perinatal risk factors for brain damage, excluding the presence of genetic factors associated with brain damage, cardiovascular pathologies, brain malformations, and/or chromosomal aberrations. The infants are evaluated by a neuropediatrician and screened with electroencephalographic, auditory and visual event-related potential, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nutrition, attention, neurohabilitation, rehabilitation, neurodevelopmental, socioeconomic, and psychological evaluations and followed up until eight years of age (Harmony, 2017(Harmony, , 2021.…”

Long-term therapeutic effects of Katona therapy in moderate-to-severe perinatal brain damage

“…Katona methodology and preliminary results have been described in previous papers (see Harmony et al, 2016 [10], Harmony 2017 [14] and Garófalo-Gómez et al, 2019 [13]).…”

“…Twenty-three of them were recruited from a total of 1,694 participants evaluated The PBD diagnosis was made in accordance with neuropediatric and MRI standards [5,6,11,12]. Group treated late was considered as a Control group since Katona therapy and early rehabilitation have proved to be useful [7,10,13,14]. Therefore, according to the declaration of Helsinki, no control clinical trials without treatment are permitted [15].…”