Epileptic seizures resulting from acute cerebral anoxia

Five patients with acute anoxic episodes requiring resuscitation, with coma and development of epileptic manifestations are reported. Myoclonic types of seizures were predominantly seen in these cases. Rhythmical or burst-like generalized-synchronous spike discharges represented the most common EEG correlate of the epileptic activity. In one patient, a suppression-burst-like pattern was temporarily seen. The two youngest of the patients survived and there was remarkable recovery in spite of the persistence of myoclonic jerking. Stress is laid upon the distinction between tonic brain-stem release phenomena (with concomitant flat or featureless EEG tracings) and authentic epileptic activity in association with spike discharges in cerebral anoxia.