BENIGN OCCIPITAL SPIKES

Benign partial epilepsy with occipital paroxysm(BPEOP) has a distinctive EEG pattern which characterized by frequent discharges of spike, sharp wave, or spike-wave activity at the occipital area of one or both hemispheres. It is completely or significantly attenuated by eye opening. We selected 34 cases of BPEOP in children from January 1982 to December 1991. The results were as follows ; male to female ratio was 1.27 : 1, the age of onset of seizure were 14 months and 13 years. Hemiclonic seizure was the most common type(52.9%). Ictal visual phenomena consist. of hallucination and illusion, which was seen in only 7 patients(20.6%). Abnormal occipital EEGs showed spike(52.9%), Spike-wave complex(32.4%) and sharp wave(14.7%). Diffuse cortical atrophy with mild ventriculomegaly was seen in 4 cases(11.8%) on neuroimaging studies. Successful control of seizures with various anticonvulsnats was noted in 14 patients(44.1%) and remaining 19 had poorly controlled persistent seizures.