EEG dipole characteristics in Panayiotopoulos syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS) is a type of benign childhood partial epilepsy that is frequently associated with abundant multifocal spikes other than main occipital spikes on the EEG. In this study, we investigated the characteristic features of dipoles in PS.


METHODS
We performed dipole analysis of the interictal occipital spike discharges seen in 10 children with PS (group A) and in 10 children with other types of symptomatic localization-related epilepsy (group B). We analyzed the dipoles of the averaged spike in each patient.


RESULTS
In group A, the averaged occipital spikes in each patient showed dense dipole locations in the mesial occipital area; in group B, widely scattered dipole locations were observed. In Group A, the geometric centers of the dipoles at each time point (such as at the main negative peak and before or after the main peak) were estimated in the neighboring locations. In contrast, they tended to be scattered in group B.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study reveals that PS has high dipole stability, similar to that of rolandic epilepsy. From the electroencephalographic view, this seems to indicate a close link between these two syndromes.
Yoshinaga
Harumi
H
Department of Child Neurology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama, Japan.
Koutroumanidis
Michael
M
Kobayashi
Katsuhiro
K
Shirasawa
Atsushi
A
Kikumoto
Kenichi
K
Inoue
Takushi
T
Oka
Makio
M
Ohtsuka
Yoko
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D017668:Age of Onset; D000465:Algorithms; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019305:Epilepsy, Rolandic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D012984:Software