title: Functional partial epilepsies in childhood.
abstract: Out of the 314 children with partial epilepsies below the age of 15 who had been followed for more than 5 years, 122 children with functional partial epilepsies (FPE) were the subjects of this study. The specific modality of interictal EEG findings reminiscent of that of the Rolandic spikes (Dalla Bernardina, 1982, 1984) was compared between functional and organic partial epilepsies. The results were: 1) One hundred and twenty-two patients were found to have FPE out of a total of 314 patients (39%). 2) Fifty-five patients were diagnosed as typical benign epilepsy of children with centro-temporal EEG foci (BECCT) of the 122 functional cases (45%). The remaining 67 patients who defied the diagnostic criteria of BECCT were; 9 cases with frontal EEG focus (7%), 11 cases with central and/or midtemporal EEG foci (9%), 10 cases with occipital EEG focus (8%) and 14 cases with multiple foci (11%). 3) Unfavorable seizure control was observed in cases with frontal foci (44%) and with multiple EEG foci (64%) compared with those whose EEG focus was located in the centro-midtemporal area, (including BECCT; 98%) and in the occipital region (80%). 4) It was noteworthy that the recurrent interictal spikes similar to those of the Rolandic spikes (Dalla Bernardina) were found in more than 50% of the patients not only with functional but with organic partial epilepsies. Our results, at least at the present time, appear to indicate that the recurrent spikes never did signify the benignancy of the seizure prognosis. The importance of differential diagnosis of BECCT from FPE was specifically stressed.
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology