A case of effective gastrostomy for severe abdominal distention due to breathing dysfunction of Rett's syndrome: a treatment of autonomic disorder

We report a case of 13-year-old-girl with Rett's syndrome and effectiveness of gastrostomy for severe paradoxical respiration, seizures and abdominal distention. Since the age of 3, she was observed to have typical hand-washing movement and autistic behavior. At the age of 8, she began to have hyperventilation and seizures in awake stage. Her symptoms were worse from year to year, At the age of 13, gastrostomy was done to treat severe abdominal distention. Her symptoms were improve dramatically by the gastric air removal through gastrobutton. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.