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Atypical childhood absence epilepsy with preceding or simultaneous generalized tonic clonic seizures

Hiroyuki Wakamoto1, Mitsumasa Fukuda, Ritsuko Shigemi

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Ehime Rehabilitation Center for Children, Ehime, Japan.

Brain & Development
|November 3, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) with generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) shares similar clinical features and favorable outcomes with typical CAE. This suggests atypical CAE-GTCS may represent a variant form of CAE.

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Pediatric Epilepsy

Background:

  • Current diagnostic criteria for Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE) may implicitly exclude cases with early Generalized Tonic-Clonic Seizures (GTCS).
  • Some researchers suggest CAE criteria should exclude patients experiencing GTCS before or concurrently with absence seizures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare clinical features between typical CAE and atypical CAE with preceding or simultaneous GTCS (atypical CAE-GTCS).

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of 11 patients with atypical CAE-GTCS and 30 with typical CAE using current CAE criteria.
  • Statistical comparison of clinical data including age, sex, family/personal history, seizure onset, treatment, and outcome.

Main Results:

  • Both groups exhibited a similar mean absence seizure onset age of 6 years.
  • Seizure outcomes for both absences and GTCS were comparably favorable in both groups.
  • No significant differences were observed in clinical data, except for the onset age of GTCS.

Conclusions:

  • Findings indicate significant clinical similarities between typical CAE and atypical CAE-GTCS.
  • Suggests that atypical CAE-GTCS might represent a variant form of CAE characterized by early GTCS onset.
Abstract

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