title: Epilepsy and chromosome 18 abnormalities: A review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the various types of epilepsy in subjects with chromosome 18 aberrations in order to define epilepsy and its main clinical, electroclinical and prognostic aspects in chromosome 18 anomalies.
  
  
  METHODS
  A careful overview of recent works concerning chromosome 18 aberrations and epilepsy has been carried out considering the major groups of chromosomal 18 aberrations, identified using MEDLINE and EMBASE database from 1980 to 2015.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Epilepsy seems to be particularly frequent in patients with trisomy or duplication of chromosome 18 with a prevalence of up to 65%. Approximately, over half of the patients develop epilepsy during the first year of life. Epilepsy can be focal or generalized; infantile spasms have also been reported. Brain imagines showed anatomical abnormalities in 38% of patients. Some antiepileptic drugs as valproic acid and carbamazepine were useful for treating seizures although a large majority of patients need polytherapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children with chromosomal 18 abnormalities can present different types of epilepsy, more frequently focal seizures in individuals with 18q- deletion syndrome, while both complex partial seizures and generalized tonic-clonic seizures have been described in patients who suffer for trisomy 18. Outcome in term of seizures frequency and duration seems to be variable and epilepsy is drug resistant in half of the children, especially in children with trisomy 18 and generalized epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Perugia University, Perugia, Italy. Electronic address: averrott@unich.it.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verrotti
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Perugia University, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Perugia University, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: di Genova
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neurology and Muscolar Diseases Unit, Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, University of Genoa, G. Gaslini Institute, Genova, Italy. Electronic address: pstriano@email.it.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Striano
mesh_terms: D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D025063:Chromosome Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002887:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D012303:Ring Chromosomes; D014178:Translocation, Genetic; D014314:Trisomy; D000073842:Trisomy 18 Syndrome
keywords: Chromosomal aberrations; Chromosome 18; Epilepsy; Seizures