Spectral analysis of EEG gamma rhythms associated with tonic seizures in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

Purpose: EEG gamma rhythms, which are found in association with epileptic spasms in infants with West syndrome, were explored in the ictal EEGs of tonic seizures in older patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) to investigate the pathophysiology of the disease.

Methods: The subjects were 20 patients with LGS (11 males, 9 females; age range: 3 years 1 month to 29 years 3 months) who had at least one digitally recorded tonic seizure with minimal artifacts. A time-frequency analysis was applied to each patient's ictal EEG data.

Results: A total of 54 seizures were analyzed, excluding spasms in clusters. The ictal EEGs of the tonic seizures showed only diffuse desynchronization in 10 seizures, and desynchronization followed by rhythmic activity in 21. The ictal discharges started as rhythmic activity of varying amplitude without initial desynchronization in 23 seizures. In a total of 25 seizures from 13 patients, gamma rhythms with frequencies ranging from 43 to 101.6Hz were detected by temporal expansion of the ictal EEG traces and spectral analysis. In 24 (96%) of these seizures, gamma rhythms were observed at seizure onset corresponding to visually identified desynchronization. In the remaining seizure, gamma rhythms were found in association with transient suppression of high-amplitude rapid discharges.

Conclusion: The detection of gamma rhythms in the ictal EEGs of tonic seizures indicated that some tonic seizures might have generative mechanisms in common with epileptic spasms, and that these mechanisms are possibly related to desynchronization at seizure onset.