<p>The first successful bilateral pediatric hand transplant was performed in 2015. Previous hand transplant decision analysis models have focused on the adult population. This model principally aimed to determine whether adverse outcomes associated with immunosuppression outweigh the benefits of performing bilateral hand transplant surgery in a pediatric candidate. The model also conceptualized the valuation of losing years of life and sought to determine the impact of that valuation on the surgical decision. A decision model compared undergoing bilateral hand transplant surgery with using prosthetics for an 8-year-old patient. The outcome measure used was quality adjusted life years (QALYs), and sensitivity analysis was performed on the immunosuppressive risks associated with the surgical decision, as well as the perceived valuation of aversion to life years lost. The decision to perform surgery was marginally optimal compared to the prosthetic decision (50.11 QALY vs. 47.95 QALY). A Monte Carlo simulation revealed that this difference may be too marginal to detect an optimal decision (50.14 ± 8.28 QALY vs. 47.95 ± 2.12 QALY). Sensitivity analysis identified decision thresholds related to immunosuppression risks ( = 29% vs. = 33% modeled), and a trend of increasing risk as a patient is more averse to losing life years. The marginally optimal treatment strategy currently is bilateral hand transplant, compared to prosthetics for pediatric patients. Key determinants of the future optimal strategy will be whether immunosuppressive regimens become safer, with a reduced risk of losing life years due to immunosuppressive complications, and whether prosthetics become more acceptable and enable higher functioning.</p>

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>Seizures are common among patients with HIV/AIDS in the developing world and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Early treatment with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) may reduce this risk by decreasing rates of central nervous system infections and HIV encephalopathy.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>A case-control study of new-onset epilepsy among children aged 0-18 years with perinatally acquired HIV/AIDS followed in Gaborone, Botswana, during the period 2003-2009 was conducted. Children with epilepsy were identified and compared with age- and sex-matched controls without epilepsy with respect to timing of cART initiation. Early treatment was defined as treatment with cART before the age of 12 months, at a CD4% of greater than 25 in children aged 1-5 years, or at an absolute CD4 count of &gt;350 cell per cubic millimeter in children aged 5 years and older.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>We identified 29 cases of new-onset epilepsy and 58 age- and sex-matched controls. The most common identified etiologies for epilepsy were central nervous system infections and direct HIV neurotoxicity. Only 8 (28%) of the children who developed epilepsy received early treatment compared with 31 (53%) controls (odds ratio: 0.36, 95% confidence interval: 0.14 to 0.92, P = 0.03). This effect was primarily driven by differences in rates of epilepsy among children who initiated treatment with cART between the ages of 1 and 5 years (11% vs. 53%, odds ratio: 0.11, 95% confidence interval: 0.01 to 1.1, P = 0.06).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Earlier initiation of cART may be protective against epilepsy in children with HIV.</p>