video-EEG Findings Research Articles

Eyelid myoclonia with absences in adults: a clinical and video-EEG study.

We report clinical and video-EEG findings in 11 adults with the syndro me of eyelid myoclonia with absences (EMA). Prevalence was 2.7% among all epilepsies and 12.9% among idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGE) with typical absences. All patients with EMA were women, with a mean age of 30.9 years and a mean age of 7.8 years at reported onset of eyelid myoclonia. The characteristic seizures, studied with video-EEG in 10 patients, began with and were mainly manifested by eyelid myoclonia, either alone if brief (< or = 2 s) or with associated mild impairment of consciousness if longer. The ictal EEG was characterized by polyspike and slow waves at 3-6 Hz. Ictal clinical and EEG manifestations occurred mainly after eye closure and were inhibited by total darkness. All patients were photosensitive, but photosensitivity decreased with age; nonpatient had self-induced seizures. Infrequent generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) occurred in all but the youngest patient; they were usually infrequent and were precipitated mainly by flickering lights, sleep deprivation, fatigue, and menstruation. Mild myoclonic jerks of the upper limbs occurred in 6 patients. Eyelid myoclonia was resistant to medication and persisted despite control of other seizures.

Supplementary Sensorimotor Seizures

The diagnosis, clinical features, video EEG and MRI findings, medical and surgical treatment, pathology, and prognosis in eleven children and adolescents with supplementary sensorimotor area seizures (SSMA) are reported from the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Radiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio.

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Electroclinical Features

Results of video-EEG, PET, MRI, and pathological findings in 14 children aged 16 months to 12 years who were seizure-free after temporal lobectomy are reported in a multicenter, international study at Cleveland, Singapore, Naples, and Helsinki.

Typical absence seizures in adults: clinical, EEG, video-EEG findings and diagnostic/syndromic considerations.

Eighteen women and five men had typical absences. These included 10% of a consecutive hospital series of 200 adult patients with epileptic disorders. The absences began between the ages of seven and 46 years and varied in type and severity. Twenty patients also had generalised tonic-clonic seizures, ranging in frequency from one in a lifetime to one per month. Myoclonic jerks of the limbs occurred in 11 patients but were not associated with the absence attacks. Eyelid myoclonus consistently occurred with absence attacks in four patients and perioral myoclonus in two patients. Absence status occurred in five patients. Absence seizures were frequently unrecognised or misdiagnosed as complex partial seizures. Satisfactory control was achieved with sodium valproate. Electroencephalography, particularly video-electroencephalography, was invaluable in the diagnosis, but focal abnormalities in seven patients might have been erroneously interpreted as indicating partial seizures. This series showed that clinical and EEG manifestations are often syndrome-related and that there are more epileptic syndromes with typical absences than those presently recognised.