Epilepsy above 70 years of age--four cases with spike and wave complex

The authors have reported clinical features, EEG and CT findings of four cases with senile genuine epilepsy, with late onset after 50 years of age. One of these was similar to the case of petit mal status episodes with myoclonous in a woman of 77 years, which Terzano et al. reported in 1978. Three of our cases were non-focal major epilepsy. We confirmed the existence of primarily generalized epilepsy, occurring late in life. At present, with only a few reports of senile epilepsy with spike and wave complex being available, we should make further efforts to obtain well-defined features of senile genuine epilepsy.