Classification of epilepsies and epileptic syndromes in two different samples of patients

We attempted to classify, according to the International Classification of Epilepsies and Epileptic Syndromes, 986 patients consecutively examined during a 13-month period either in a specialized private practice (n = 642) or in an adult neurology unit in a university hospital (n = 344). Without major difficulty, we classified 97% of patients in more or less clearly defined syndromes. Benign frontal and benign psychomotor epilepsies of childhood were represented in this sample of patients. In either partial or generalized idiopathic epilepsies, a diagnosis of epilepsy appears justified even after a single epileptic event when sufficient electroclinical characteristics are present. Patients with symptomatic generalized epilepsies often have to be classified under two or three headings. Many children with a symptomatic generalized epilepsy also experience partial seizures. Alcoholic epilepsy is described as a veritable epileptic syndrome. The distribution of epileptic syndromes was clearly different in the two samples, casting doubt on the value of some epidemiologic surveys based on selected groups of patients.