Electroclinical correlation examined by simultaneous VTR-EEG monitoring in a patient with complex partial status...

We discussed the electroclinical correlation of complex partial status epilepticus (CPSE) followed by simultaneous VTR-EEG monitoring. An eight-year-old boy had repetitive seizures lasting for 30 to 90 minutes in addition to ordinary seizures with typical oral automatism of a few minutes duration. This case fulfilled the criteria for diagnosis of CPSE by Treiman et al. (1983), and was classified as the discontinuous type of CPSE described by Gastaut et al. (1975). The clinical symptoms were characterized by a repeated occurrence of psychomotor arrest and automatic phases. The EEG showed an alternate appearance of two phases. One was characterized by 7 to 8 Hz theta or slow alpha waves and the other by 4 to 6 Hz theta waves, respectively.