[Atypical absences: prevalence, electroclinical and neuroimaging characteristics]

The study included 1261 patients with different forms of epilepsy. Ages at onset of disease varied from the first days of life to 18 years old. Absence seizures were identified in 231 (18.3%) patients, atypical absences (AA) in 129 (10.2%) of patients, with the frequency of absence seizures 55.8% in the total group. Patients with AA had different forms of epilepsy with the prevalence of cryptogenic/symptomatic forms with the phenomenon of secondary bilateral synchronization in the EEG. If epilepsy manifested itself at the age above 12 years old, AA were not noted. The study demonstrated the relevance of using video-EEG monitoring for diagnosis of epilepsy with AA. The antiepileptic treatment was effective in 53.5% of patients.