Inverted fixation-off sensitivity in atypical benign partial epilepsy

Fixation-off sensitivity is an electroencephalographic phenomenon characterized by spike-and-wave discharges that only occur when central vision and fixation are eliminated. It is especially seen in children with Panayiotopoulos-type, early-onset, benign childhood occipital epilepsy or Gastaut type, late-onset, childhood occipital epilepsy. It can also be seen in eyelid myoclonia with absences, in other idiopathic generalized epilepsies, and in asymptomatic children without epilepsy. We describe a boy with atypical, benign partial epilepsy of childhood who exhibited the reverse: epileptiform activity that was suppressed by the absence of central vision or fixation, and activated by central vision or fixation.