Television-provoked epilepsy in children: a follow-up survey from Isfahan, Iran

Television as an external stimulation can precipitate epileptic seizures. Today this kind of epilepsy is known as television epilepsy. As children spend much of their time watching television, it is important to study this type of epilepsy in this age group. This study was designed to describe the clinical and some demographic characteristics of television epilepsy in Iranian children.

Patients who were diagnosed as having television epilepsy with an age less than 12 years were recruited from outpatient neurology clinics in Isfahan, Iran, from September 2002 through September 2006. We collected the case-related information including electroencephalograms, radiologic findings, and patients' history.

Thirty patients with television epilepsy with the age less than 12 years were identified. Of whom 17 (56.7%) were females and 13 (43.3%) were males. The mean age at the onset of seizure was 9.9+/-2.1 years. Children had absence (3.3%), myoclonic (3.3%), and generalized tonic-clonic (93.3+/-) seizures in response to intermittent photic stimulations. Interictal epileptiform discharges in electroencephalograms were detected in 83.3%. In addition, neuroimaging findings were normal in 96.7% of the patients. In our study, 56.7% of the children had pure television epilepsy and 43.3% experienced other types of generalized seizure. During the follow-up period after initiation of variable drug treatments including valproic acid, carbamazepine, phenobarbital, clonazepam, ethosuximide, and lamotrigine all the patients had complete seizure remission.

The clinical and demographic differences of our patients compared with other reports are probably due to genetic differences. In our study, it was demonstrated that carbamazepine could be used in children with television epilepsy because it had successfully terminated seizures in 43.3% of the patients.