title: Seizures involving the supplementary sensorimotor area in children: a video-EEG analysis.
abstract: Most reports of supplementary sensorimotor seizures have been of adults with medically refractory epilepsy. Typically, supplementary sensorimotor seizures have onset in childhood. We describe the electroclinical features in 12 children. Cases were selected from an EEG laboratory population in whom video-EEG was performed routinely on all children. Supplementary sensorimotor seizures were diagnosed when there was bilateral tonic posturing of the upper or lower extremities, preserved consciousness, and lack of postictal confusion. Sensory auras were reported by 8 of 9 children aged > 3 years who had daytime seizures. Speech arrest occurred in all patients in whom it could be assessed, and abnormal vocalization was observed in 7 children. Interictal EEGs were often normal (49% of recordings), and ictal EEG changes could be subtle. An etiology was demonstrated in only 2 children, and brain imaging studies were normal in the other 10 patients. Seizures were controlled with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in 6 of the 12 children. The clinical manifestations of supplementary sensorimotor seizures in children are similar to those reported in adults; misdiagnosis is common at all ages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Langill
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Farrell
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D017034:Epilepsy, Frontal Lobe / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D014743:Videotape Recording
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants