Clinical implications of preceding positive spikes in patients with benign partial epilepsy and febrile seizures.
OBJECTIVE
To clarify the clinical implications of the preceding positive spikes (PPSs) observed primarily in rolandic spikes, we analyzed PPSs in the rolandic and occipital spikes observed in the electroencephalograms (EEGs) of patients with two types of benign partial epilepsies (benign childhood epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes [BECT] and Panayiotopoulos syndrome [PS]) and febrile seizures (FS).


METHODS
We identified patients from our outpatient EEG database that were seen between 2006 and 2008 that had BECT, PS, and FS with rolandic or occipital spikes. We generated an averaged spike for each patient from the rolandic and occipital spikes that were detected using an automatic spike detection and clustering system. We compared the presence rate of the averaged spikes with the PPS among the three groups (BECT vs. PS vs. FS) using sequential mapping.


RESULTS
We identified 25 BECT, 18 PS, and 15 FS patients with rolandic spikes. Fifteen BECT and nine PS patients exhibited a PPS in their averaged rolandic spikes, whereas only four FS patients did. Three of these four FS patients later developed afebrile seizures, and one of them was diagnosed as having PS. We analyzed eight PS and six FS patients with occipital spikes. Five PS patients exhibited a PPS in their averaged occipital spikes, whereas only one FS patient did. This FS patient later developed prolonged autonomic febrile seizures.


CONCLUSIONS
PPSs are observed not only in rolandic spikes associated with BECT that is related strictly to sylvian seizures, but also in rolandic and occipital spikes associated with PS. Although PPSs are rare in such spikes observed in FS, patients with FS and PPSs may have an increased risk of developing afebrile seizures or prolonged autonomic febrile seizures. Further studies are warranted to determine the diagnostic utility of PPSs as a marker of the future development of epilepsy when they are observed in FS patients.
Department of Child Neurology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Japan. magenta@md.okayama-u.ac.jp
Harumi
H
Yoshinaga
Katsuhiro
K
Kobayashi
Tomoyuki
T
Akiyama
Takashi
T
Shibata
Fumika
F
Endoh
Yoko
Y
Ohtsuka
D000293:Adolescent; D001931:Brain Mapping; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D019305:Epilepsy, Rolandic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D003294:Seizures, Febrile / Q000175:diagnosis*