59. Electroencephalographic findings in children with behavioral disorders

Abstract

Introduction In the latter years, an increase in the medical attention due to behavioral disorders in children has been observed, and anomalies in the electric cerebral activity of these patients has been described. Objective To describe the characteristics of the electroencephalographic activity in children with behavioral disorders. Material and methods A retrospective analysis of the EEGs was conducted, from September 2012 to March 2016, in children with behavioral disorder diagnosis. We excluded patients with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and/or associated neurologic disease. Results Twenty electroencephalograms were reviewed. Fifty-five percent presented abnormalities and 45% were normal. The most frequent finding was focal epileptiform abnormalities activated during sleep. The most common pattern was sharp waves (63%) and the most frequent location was the frontal lobe (55%). Conclusions The diagnosis of patients with behavioral disorders is essentially of clinic nature; nevertheless, almost half of patients may develop anomalies in brain electrical activity, mainly focal epileptiform discharges. This fact, suggests that EEG is a helpful ancillary test in the assessment of these patients. Significance The purpose of performing an EEG for the early diagnosis and treatment of focal epileptiform activity in children with behavioral disorders is discussed.