Chapter 13 - Benign partial epilepsies of childhood

Summary

This chapter considers the etiologies of the benign partial epilepsies recognized in the Classification and Terminology of ILAE published in 2001 that include benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BCECTS), early-onset benign childhood occipital epilepsy Panayiotopoulos type (PS) and late-onset childhood occipital epilepsy Gastaut type. The authors present clinical and electroencephalographic (EEG) evidence of cases showing the association of other benign focal epilepsies with absence epilepsy, namely, patients with PS and late-onset occipital epilepsy of the Gastaut type, evolving into typical childhood absence epilepsies. Childhood occipital epilepsy (COE) of Gastaut is a rare condition with a probable prevalence of 0.2-0.9% of all epilepsies, and 2-7% of benign childhood focal seizures. Patients with PS, COE of Gastaut, and BCECTS show EEG features in common with idiopathic generalized epilepsies. For example, generalized spike and wave on EEG has been reported in PS, COE of Gastaut, and BCECTS.