[A review of idiopathic generalized epilepsies: absence epilepsy].

We studied the clinical characteristics observed at diagnosis of the initial seizure in different types of epilepsy, particularly in idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE), and evaluated the importance of these in the classification of syndromes. The present study analyzes only those IGE initiated by absences leaving the cases initiated by GTC or myoclonic onset for a successive report. We observed differences between cases initiated by absences, those presenting simultaneously with absences and TCG, and those where TCG preceded the absences.

Influence of the 'lost time' on the outcome of epilepsy.

A review of a series of epileptic patients revealed the importance of the 'lost time' in the future time course of a patient. The 'lost time' is regarded as the period of time elapsed since the onset of symptoms and the implementation of adequate treatment. An assessment of the follow-up of 3,529 epileptic patients showed that the shorter the 'lost time', the greater the efficacy of anticonvulsant treatment.

[Possibilities for recovery in epilepsy].

Using information from a database of 5,000 cases of epilepsy, the author studies the clinical evolution of 3,601 patients who had been followed over a period between 1 and 40 years (mean follow-up period, 10 years). According to the results obtained with anticonvulsant drugs, controllable forms of epilepsy were those in which at least 1 years had transpired without seizures occurring. This accounted for 74.

Partial epilepsy with seizures appearing in the first three years of life.

We reviewed records of 5,000 epileptic patients and identified 154 cases of partial epilepsy with seizure onset in the first 3 years of life. Of these, 35 patients had initial partial seizures. In 57 patients, partial seizures were preceded by a hemiclonic seizure, which manifested as status epilepticus in 70%.

[Benign grand mal epilepsy in the adult].

In two separate papers submitted to a symposium in Barcelona in December 1987 on primary, generalized grand mal epilepsy becoming manifest in adulthood, the findings were so identical that the authors thought it appropriate to make a joint publication. L. Oller Daurella, after studying 90 cases, and L.