[Myoclonic epilepsies in pediatrics].
BACKGROUND
In our environment the frequency of epilepsy is 1.9% and in the central anti-epilepsy league (LICCE) of Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia, some 1,500 patients are attended each month (approximately 75 daily), of which an average of 7.2 consulted for the first time.


METHODS
This article about myoclonic epilepsy in paediatrics allows the clinician to have a general view of the patient who consults for the first time, facilitating his subsequent treatment. We emphasize the etiological classification of the first crises, seeking specifically to discover whether it is a disorder, a sequela, a syndrome or an isolated crisis. We present the basic definitions: classification according to physiology, anatomy, symptomatology (epileptic or nonepileptic), cryptogenetics (intermediate or polymorphic) and benign, severe or progressive.


CONCLUSIONS
Finally we draw attention to the description of fifteen syndromes in which the clinical picture of progressive, myoclonic epilepsy is variable and the aetiology complicated.
Medina-Malo
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Liga Central contra la Epilepsia, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia. medinamalo@epilepsia.org
Obando
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D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004831:Epilepsies, Myoclonic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010372:Pediatrics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity