Abstract

SA, Aida  and  CHORAO, Rui. Caso electroencefalográfico. Nascer e Crescer [online]. 2012, vol.21, n.3, pp.147-150. ISSN 0872-0754.

Introduction: Typical absence seizures are quite common in childhood, in most cases fitting the criteria for childhood absence epilepsy. Differential diagnosis is mainly with inattention and focal hypomotor seizures. Response to adequate antiepileptic drug therapy is usually very good. Case report: We report a classical case of a school-age girl with many episodes per day of staring and eye rolling with a duration of some seconds. Hyperventilation during her first appointment elicited short-duration absences with slight eye blinking. The ictal video-EEG confirmed the diagnosis, showing generalized synchronous bursts of 3 Hz spike-wave discharges with a medium duration of eight seconds. The response to therapy with valproic acid was dramatic, and medication was withdrawn at the age of eleven with no recurrence of seizures. Conclusion: The most frequent epileptic syndrome with typical absences is childhood absence epilepsy. When inclusion and exclusion criteria are taken in consideration, we can expect a good prognosis, with remission by prepubertal age.

Keywords : Absence epilepsy; childhood; prognosis.

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