Idiopathic occipital and absence epilepsies appearing in the same children

Our aim is to report the association between idiopathic occipital epilepsy and childhood absence epilepsy in the same children. Six children met the diagnostic criteria for both idiopathic occipital epilepsy and childhood absence epilepsy, five patients with idiopathic occipital epilepsy Gastaut type and another with Panayiotopoulos type. All patients were monitored for 2 to 10 years with repeated electroencephalograms when awake and during sleep. Age at onset of seizures ranged from 4.6 to 8 years. Five patients had focal sensory visual seizures, all with migrainelike episodes. One patient presented ictal vomiting followed by oculocephalic deviation. All patients presented typical absences, with onset at least 1 year after having had idiopathic occipital epilepsy Gastaut type in three patients. In the other two patients with idiopathic occipital epilepsy Gastaut type and the patient with idiopathic occipital epilepsy Panayiotopoulos type, both types of epilepsy appeared at the same time. The electroencephalograms documented occipital paroxysms in all cases, with positive reactivity to the eye closure in five patients. All children presented spike-wave discharges at 3 cycles per second activated by hyperventilation. More genetic information would be necessary to demonstrate either a close genetic relationship between these syndromes or common markers with variable phenotypes. (C) 2004 by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.