[Symptomatic absence seizures, the least known causation of absence seizures]

According to the 1981 International League Against Epilepsy classification, absence seizures are the paradigm of idiopathic generalised seizures of childhood. Although absences are mainly of an idiopathic origin, there are also symptomatic absences, which account for 10% of all cases of absences. It is thought that a structural pathology can favour the appearance of absences in genetically predisposed individuals.

We report the cases of two patients with symptomatic absence seizures of childhood onset. The first presented thalamic damage of a perinatal origin and the second had glucose transporter deficiency in the brain.

A percentage of absence seizures in childhood are of a symptomatic origin. This occurs more frequently in children who present other types of epilepsy, focal or diffuse brain damage, and in early-onset absences.