A similar type of epilepsy, usually benign in the sense that there is no intellectual deterioration and the seizures often cease in adolescence, has been associated with spike activity over the occipital lobes as identified by Panayiotopoulos. Visual hallucinations, while not invariable, are the most common clinical feature, according to the review by Taylor and colleagues; sensations of movements of the eyes, tinnitus, or vertigo are also reported in cases of occipital epilepsy. These authors point out symptomatic causes of the syndrome, mainly cortical heterotopias. Autonomic overactivity is prominent with the seizures in some children. In both of these types of childhood epilepsy the observation that spikes are greatly accentuated by sleep is a useful diagnostic feature.
This term is applied to a special and particularly dramatic form of epilepsy of infancy and early childhood. West, in the mid-nineteenth century, described the condition in his son in great detail. This disorder, which in most cases appears during the first year of life, is characterized by recurrent, single or brief episodes of gross flexion movements of the trunk and limbs and, less frequently, by extension movements (hence the alternative terms infantile spasms or salaam or jackknife seizures). Most but not all patients with this disorder show major EEG abnormalities consisting of continuous multifocal spikes and slow waves of large amplitude. However, this pattern, named by Gibbs and Gibbs as hypsarrhythmia (“mountainous” dysrhythmia), is not specific for infantile spasms, being frequently associated with other developmental or acquired abnormalities of the brain. As the child matures, the seizures diminish and usually disappear by the fourth to fifth year. If MRI and CT scans are more or less normal, the usual pathologic findings according to Jellinger are cortical dysgeneses. Both the seizures and the EEG abnormalities may respond dramatically to treatment with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), corticosteroids, or the benzodiazepine drugs, of which clonazepam is probably the most widely used. A type of West syndrome that is caused by tuberous sclerosis also responds dramatically to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-inhibiting drugs such as vigabatrin, as noted below. However, most patients, even those who were apparently normal when the seizures appeared, are left mentally impaired. Infantile spasms may later progress to the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a seizure disorder of early childhood of graver prognosis as discussed in a previous section.
The well-known uncomplicated febrile seizure, specific to infants and children between 6 months and 5 years of age (peak incidence ages 9 to 20 months) and with a strong inherited tendency, is generally regarded as a benign condition. The frequency has been estimated to be approximately 4 per 1,000 children under the age of 5 but reportedly twice as high in Japanese children. It usually takes the form of a single, generalized motor seizure occurring as the patient’s core temperature rises or reaches its peak. Seldom does the seizure last longer than a few minutes and by the time an EEG can be obtained, there is no abnormality and recovery is complete. The seizures do not recur during the same episode of fever. The temperature is usually above 38°C (100.4°F).