			Home About us Contact

Childhood Occipital Epilepsy (childhood + occipital_epilepsy)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Childhood occipital epilepsy of Gastaut: A study of 33 patients

EPILEPSIA, Issue 2 2008
Roberto Horacio Caraballo
Summary Purpose: To characterize the electroclinical features and evolution of childhood occipital epilepsy of Gastaut (COE-G). Methods: Children with electroclinical criteria of COE-G were retrospectively identified and followed-up clinically, and with sleep and awake EEGs between 1990 and 2007. Results: We identified 33 patients with COE-G. In the same length of time, 201 children with Panayiotopoulos syndrome and 410 children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes were registered. COE-G had a peak age at onset of 8.5 years. Visual manifestations were the most common ictal event. Ictal deviation of the eyes was frequent. Approximately half of the patients had migraine-like symptoms. In all patients the seizures occurred while awake, and 11 also had seizures during sleep. The majority of the patients had occipital spike-wave discharges when the eyes were closed that disappeared or attenuated when the eyes were opened. Prognosis was excellent in 80% of the cases. Conclusion: This study confirms the existence of COE-G, a rare but well-defined syndrome within the group of idiopathic focal epilepsies in childhood. [source]

A Magnetoencephalographic Study of Patients with Panayiotopoulos Syndrome

EPILEPSIA, Issue 7 2005
Osamu Kanazawa
Summary:,Purpose: Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS) is a newly identified type of benign childhood epilepsy characterized by ictal vomiting and eye deviation. It is usually accompanied by occipital spike discharges; however, its classification as an early-onset benign childhood occipital epilepsy is controversial. To characterize this condition further, we examined the localization of equivalent current dipoles (ECDs) of spike discharges by magnetoencephalography (MEG) in patients with PS. Methods: We studied 13 patients with a mean age at time of examination of 5 years (range, 3,14 years). MEG was measured by using a whole-head 204-channel neuromagnetometer with simultaneous EEG recordings. The estimated locations of ECDs of each peak of the spike discharges were overlaid on magnetic resonance images of the brain. Results: Eleven (84.6%) patients showed clustered ECDs in the areas alongside the parietooccipital sulcus (eight of 13; 61.5%) and/or the calcarine sulcus (four of 13; 30.8%). Despite Fp-O synchronization of the spike discharges in the scalp EEG of five patients, no frontal locations of ECDs were found. All five (38.5%) boys with sylvian seizures, who also showed clustered ECDs in rolandic areas, had an earlier age at onset and higher seizure frequency than did other patients. ECD orientations were regular in all but one patient, who showed irregular and dispersed ECDs alongside bilateral calcarine sulci. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate localized cortical hyperexcitability in the areas alongside major cortical sulci in PS and indicate that PS is closely related to benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes. [source]

Levetiracetam monotherapy for childhood occipital epilepsy of gastaut

ACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 5 2009
A. Verrotti
Objectives ,, The aim of this open label pilot study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam (LEV) as ,de novo' monotherapy in children and adolescents with late onset childhood occipital epilepsy,Gastaut type (COE-G). Material and methods ,, Twelve patients suffering from COE-G were enrolled in this prospective study. The age of seizures onset ranged from 6.1 to 16.2 years with a peak of frequency at mean (±SD) 10.54 ± 2.77 years. Therapy with LEV was started at 10 mg/kg/day and, after titration, the final dose was generally achieved within 4 weeks and ranged from 20.7 to 45.2 mg/kg/day. Results ,, At the 6 month evaluation, 11 (91.6%) of the 12 patients studied were seizure free, and one (8.3%) showed four additional episodes. Electroencephalography (EEG) activity was normal in six (54.5%) patients, unchanged in two (18.1%) children, and in four (33.3%) patients sporadic occipital abnormalities persisted. At the 12-month evaluation all patients were completely seizure free. Four patients (33.3%) continued to show some EEG abnormalities, while eight (72.8%) patients had normal EEG. At the 18-month evaluation all patients were seizure free and 10 patients (83.3%) showed a complete normalization of EEG abnormalities. Discussion ,, Monotherapy with LEV was effective and well tolerated in patients with COE-G. Nevertheless, prospective, large, long-term double-blind studies are needed to confirm these findings. [source]