title: Psychogenic seizures: video telemetry observations in 27 patients.
abstract: Psychogenic seizures are unusual during the first decade of life. To compare the clinical features of psychogenic seizures in young children with those of teenagers, the long-term electroencephalographic and video monitoring studies of all patients younger than 18 years of age with recorded episodes diagnosed as psychogenic seizures were reviewed from a single hospital during the past 7 years. The 27 patients were divided into 2 age groups: group A, 6-9 years (n = 5), and group B, 10-17 years (n = 22). All patients had habitual episodes recorded during monitoring. Although the adolescents displayed clinical patterns similar to adult patients with psychogenic seizures, the children demonstrated a clinical pattern characterized mainly by prolonged staring and unresponsiveness. The most common behaviors in the adolescent group were tremor (45%), intermittent stiffening (41%), and out-of-phase movements of the extremities (36%). Fifteen percent of the patients had a history of seizures. This study suggests that young children with psychogenic seizures have clinical profiles different from that of teenagers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carmant
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Riviello
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stauffer
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Helmers
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mikati
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Holmes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004832:Epilepsy, Absence / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000295:instrumentation; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014741:Video Recording / Q000295:instrumentation*