Gelastic epilepsy without hypothalamic hamartoma: three additional cases.

Abstract

We describe three children with gelastic seizures without hypothalamic hamartoma whose seizures were characterized by typical laughing attacks associated or not with other seizure types. Ictal/interictal EEG and magnetic resonance imaging were performed. All three subjects showed a good response to carbamazepine therapy with complete seizure control in addition to a benign clinical and cognitive outcome. These three cases confirm that gelastic epilepsy without hypothalamic hamartoma, both in cryptogenic or symptomatic patients (one child showed a dysplastic right parietotemporal lesion), usually has a more benign natural history, and carbamazepine seems to be the most efficacious therapy to obtain both immediate and long-term seizure control. These findings need to be confirmed in a larger sample of children affected by gelastic epilepsy without hypothalamic hamartoma.

• Authors: Salvatore Savasta, Mauro Budetta, Maria Valentina Spartà, Maria Luisa Carpentieri, Guido Trasimeni, Niki Zavras, Maria Pia Villa, Pasquale Parisi
• Journal: Epilepsy & behavior : E&B (Epilepsy Behav) Vol. 37 Pg. 87-90 (Aug 2014) ISSN: 1525-5069 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25010321 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Anticonvulsants
• Carbamazepine

Topics

• Adolescent
• Anticonvulsants (therapeutic use)
• Behavior
• Carbamazepine (therapeutic use)
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Electroencephalography
• Epilepsies, Partial (drug therapy, physiopathology, psychology)
• Female
• Frontal Lobe (physiopathology)
• Hamartoma (complications)
• Humans
• Hypothalamic Diseases (complications)
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Male
• Seizures (drug therapy, physiopathology, psychology)