title: Gelastic seizures treated by resection of a hypothalamic hamartoma.
abstract: A 7-year-old girl presented for evaluation of a peculiar kind of epilepsy. Her seizures began before 1 year of age and consisted of episodes of brief, uncontrolled and unprovoked laughter than with time progressed to include cursive, complex partial and generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Progressive impairment of cognitive functions was noted as well as precocious puberty. Neuroimaging examination disclosed a hypothalamic hamartoma. It was excised by a pterional approach, and no further seizures were noted. The authors propose direct surgery for the hypothalamic hamartoma as a treatment for this progressive syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Hwang
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D017029:Epilepsy, Complex Partial / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D004829:Epilepsy, Generalized / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D004830:Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006222:Hamartoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007029:Hypothalamic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000473:pathology; D007845:Laughter / Q000502:physiology*