title: Sequential occurrence of benign partial epilepsy and childhood absence epilepsy in three patients.
abstract: We first report 3 patients who experienced absence epilepsy (mean age at onset: 6.3 years; range: 4-9) 1-4 years after recovering from an electroclinical picture characteristic of benign childhood partial epilepsy (BCPE). All patients were put on monotherapy with sodium valproate, and their long-term course was excellent with remission of absences and normalization of EEG recordings. The exceptionality of our observation favors the hypothesis that BCPE and absence epilepsy are distinct entities.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurology, School of Medicine, Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gambardella
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Aguglia
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guerrini
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Morelli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zappia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quattrone
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D004832:Epilepsy, Absence / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors