[Treatment of children with a paroxysmal electroencephalogram without seizures].
BACKGROUND
The paroxysmal and focal alterations in the electroencephalogram (EEG) of subjects who have never experienced epileptic seizures may be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in infancy.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the true behaviour of the bioelectrical manifestation we have developed a therapeutic protocol with anticonvulsive drugs to enable us to evaluate the degree of clinical improvement along with that of the bioelectrical resolution.


METHODS
Four groups of patients were selected with 10 patients in each group, allocated according to their clinical diagnosis. The study groups were made up of patients suffering from language and speech disorders (LSD), specific learning difficulties (SLD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a fourth group with mixed neuropsychological symptoms (MNS).


RESULTS
A linear relation was found between the behaviour of the clinical progress and the electroencephalographic progress in the groups with LSD and ADHD, and to a lesser extent with the MNS and SLD groups. Clinical progress was considered to be successful in three of the 10 children studied in group A (LSD), in one of the 10 in group B (SLD), in two of the ten belonging to group C (ADHD), and in three of the 10 subjects in group D (MNS).


CONCLUSIONS
The pharmacological treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, with an abnormal EEG pattern and no seizures, was found to behave favourably in 80% of the cases for the four groups under study. The presence of an EEG-4 pattern, slow focal activity, was indicative of a regular clinical prognosis.
Etchepareborda
M C
MC
Laboratorio para el estudio de las Funciones Cerebrales Superiores, Buenos Aires, Argentina. mce@interar.com.ar
D000293:Adolescent; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012640:Seizures
D000927:Anticonvulsants