Abstract
Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) appears in adolescence with myoclonic, absence, and generalized tonic clonic (GTC) seizures with paroxysmal activity of polyspike and slow wave (PSW), or spike and wave (SW) complexes in EEG. Our aim was to analyze the clinical characteristics, background EEG activity, and paroxysmal events in 41 patients with JME. Background EEG activity was analyzed with visual, quantitative (QEEG), and neurometric parameters. Our JME patients started with absence seizures at 11.4 ± 1.5 years old, myoclonic seizures at 13.6 ± 2.5 years, and GTC seizures at 15.1 ± 0.8 years. The seizures presented in awakening at 7:39 h with sleep deprivation, alcoholic beverage intake, and stress as the most frequent precipitant factors. Paroxysmal activity was of PSW and fast SW complexes with 40.5 ± 62.6 events/hour and a duration of 1.7 s. Right asymmetric paroxysmal activity was present in 68.3% of patients. Background EEG activity was abnormal in 31.7% of patients with visual analysis. With QEEG beta AP (absolute power) increase and AP delta decrease were the most frequent abnormalities found. Spectral analysis showed that 48.7% of patients had normal results, and 26.83% and 24.4% had higher and lower frequencies than 10.156 Hz, respectively. We concluded that, with visual analysis, background EEG activity was abnormal in a few patients and the abnormalities increased when QEEG was used.
Highlights
Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a genetically-determined disease that appears in adolescence with myoclonic seizures, absence, and generalized tonic clonic (GTC) seizures that are characteristically present for two hours after awakening
We concluded that patients with JME started with absence seizures at 11.4 ± 1.5 years old, myoclonic seizures at 13.6 ± 1.71 years of age, and the GTC seizures at 15.1 ± 0.8 years
The paroxysmal activity was of polyspike and slow wave (PSW) and fast spike and wave (SW) complexes with 40.5 ± 62.6 events per hour and a mean duration of 1.7 s
Summary
Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a genetically-determined disease that appears in adolescence with myoclonic seizures, absence, and generalized tonic clonic (GTC) seizures that are characteristically present for two hours after awakening. In these patients, the abnormalities were generalized theta increases and decreases in alpha activity in sixmain (46.1%). There were two main alterations in EEG visual analysis that were found: generalized theta increases and alpha decreases were the most frequent abnormalities in these patients (46.1%). This pattern can be explained by alterations in brain maturation that characteristically delay the increase in alpha activity and the decrease in theta activity [36]. This is observed in generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, and other diseases [37]
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