Wael Hayel Khreisat.
Clinical profile of epilepsy during the first two years of Life.
Pak J Med Sci Jan ;22(1):55-9.

Objective: This study aims at identifying the different presentations of infantile epilepsy with their E.E.G. and neuro-radiological patterns. Patient & Methods: Patients included in this study were children suffering from epilepsy starting below 2 years of age. They were attending the outpatient clinic or were from the in-patient departments in Prince Ali – Ben Al - Hussein hospital. The study included 100 children with ages ranging from three month to two years. All patients were subjected to: careful history taking, general and neurological examina­tion including fundus examination, E.E.G. tracing, CT were done for all cases. Febrile convulsions and convulsions due to metabolic disturbances were excluded from the study. Results: Patients were divided clinically into 2 groups: Group A (symptomatic) group-80 cases (80%): included those who had evident etiology, evident neurological deficit or developmental delay of significant degree prior to onset of seizures while Group B (cryptogenic) group-20 cases (20%). male to female ratio was 1.5: 1. The etiological factors encountered were perinatal asphyxia (55%) while heredofamilial disor­ders were least common 44% of patients had normal clinical examination as well as development while 27 % were mentally handicapped. The generalized tonic-clonic seizure was the commonest in both group while infantile type was the least, EEG was normal in 18 % of cases while CT scan lesion were present in 70% of the patients. Conclusions: Careful history taking is extremely important for accurate diagnosis of epilepsy. The in­vestigation of choice is the E.E.G. Computerized tomography should be considered an accurate neurodiagnostic test. It provides a good anatomic descri­ption of the brain.

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