Syncope-like epileptic seizures in Panayiotopoulos syndrome.

Objective: To describe the clinical features of syncope-like epileptic seizures (SLES) and their frequency in Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS).

Methods: This was a 6-year prospective study of all children aged 1-15 years referred for an EEG. PS was defined by the occurrence of at least one autonomic seizure (AS) in a neurodevelopmentally normal child and at least one EEG with focal spikes.

Hand-held nerve conduction device in carpal tunnel syndrome: a prospective study.

Introduction: We assessed the clinical impact of replacing standard neurophysiologic testing with a hand-held device (Mediracer) for diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

Methods: One hundred patients (200 hands) with suspected CTS were studied by blinded assessors [Hand-therapist (HT)1 and Consultant Neurophysiologist] using the Mediracer, followed by standard neurophysiologic testing. To simulate testing by personnel without neurological training, Mediracer recordings were analyzed separately by an assessor who had not seen the patients (HT2).

Fixation-off sensitivity in epilepsies other than the idiopathic epilepsies of childhood with occipital paroxysms: a 12-year clinical-video EEG study.

Purpose: To define the spectrum of the epileptic syndromes and epilepsies (other than the idiopathic epilepsies of childhood with occipital paroxysms) that can be associated with fixation-off sensitivity (FOS), delineate the electrographic types of FOS abnormalities and identify the patterns that can be associated with clinical seizures, and examine whether there may be a pure form of fixation-off sensitive epilepsy.

Methods: We reviewed the clinical and video EEG data of all our patients with FOS over the last 12 years. Children with idiopathic focal epilepsies and occipital EEG paroxysms were excluded.

Benign childhood focal epilepsies: assessment of established and newly recognized syndromes.

A big advance in epileptology has been the recognition of syndromes with distinct aetiology, clinical and EEG features, treatment and prognosis. A prime and common example of this is rolandic epilepsy that is well known by the general paediatricians for over 50 years, thus allowing a precise diagnosis that predicts an excellent prognosis. However, rolandic is not the only benign childhood epileptic syndrome.

Recurrent autonomic status epilepticus in Panayiotopoulos syndrome: video/EEG studies.

We describe a neurologically and developmentally normal child with infrequent seizures characterized by emetic symptoms and other autonomic phenomena and interictal spikes that satisfy the diagnostic criteria of Panayiotopoulos syndrome (PS). Two video/EEG recordings, taken a year apart, revealed prolonged autonomic seizures and other subtle behavioral changes, suggesting that episodes of nonconvulsive status epilepticus in PS may be more frequent than appreciated.

The contribution of the EEG technologists in the diagnosis of Panayiotopoulos syndrome (susceptibility to early onset benign childhood autonomic seizures).

Purpose: To assess the contribution of the EEG technologists in the diagnosis of children with epileptic seizures.

Methods: We analysed the clinical information obtained by the EEG technologists from children with epileptic seizures and their parents, and assessed its value for the generation of a clinically useful EEG report and a plausible electroclinical diagnosis. Interviews were based on a qualitative questionnaire, and were videotaped.

Atypical evolution of Panayiotopoulos syndrome: a case report.

Panayiotopoulos syndrome is a relatively common condition with susceptibility to early onset benign childhood seizures, which manifests primarily with autonomic and mainly emetic symptoms. It predominantly affects children of 3-6 years of age (13% of those with one or more non-febrile seizures). EEG shows great variability, with occipital, extra-occipital spikes or brief generalised discharges alone or in combination; it may also be consistently normal.