Chapter 99 - Primary reading epilepsy

Summary

The primary-specific variety is the only reflex syndrome accepted by the Commission on Classification and Terminology of the International League against Epilepsy as an age-related idiopathic localization-related epilepsy syndrome (ILAE). Ictally, reading epilepsy (RE) is characterized by evoked paroxysmal rhythmic theta activity or spikes over either one or both frontocentral, centroparietal, or temporoparietal regions in spite of the rather uniform clinical correlates. Functional neuroimaging, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and positron emission tomography (PET), allows the localization of changes in cerebral blood flow, metabolism, and neurotransmitter levels that accompany changes in neural activity. The introduction of more effective treatment with valproate in the 1970s, and more recently levetiracetam, for many similar seizure disorders and the subsequent widespread use of these medications may have deterred physicians from asking about triggering factors and patients from volunteering such information.