Recently we tried to give the occasional clarifying answer to the question of what is childhood epilepsy, a disorder that affects approximately five out of every 1,000 inhabitants.
Likewise, about 40% of cases are at risk of a second seizure during the first year of life, and this percentage increases to 50% at three years. Therefore, we consider it important to talk about main childhood epileptic syndromes.
During childhood, and from the moment of birth, children's brains are much more excitable than in older ages, thus favoring the so-called generalized crises (which we will talk about in a little more detailed way). This is because an immature brain, such as that of newborns and smaller ones, reacts more dispersed by stimulating it.
Before continuing with the subject, it is important to know that 5% of people, after three years of age, can suffer some type of seizure without being able to say that they are epileptic. This is because, in order to call it that, it is necessary that there be two or more crises.
On the other hand, we must consider that The average duration of epileptic seizures is 13 years, being one of the two most frequent peaks of appearance in the first two years of life (the other is just during the beginning of puberty).
Childhood epilepsy can be caused by both genetic and acquired factors (although in many other cases the origin of it is unknown), mainly due to traumatic, infectious or genetic factors.
In this way, the main causes of childhood epilepsy in the first six months of life of the small ones are: perinatal brain damage, congenital nervous system malformations, meningoencephalitis, West syndrome, metabolic disorders or benign neonatal seizures.
On the other hand, between six months of life and three years The main causes of childhood epilepsy are febrile convulsions, sequelae of perinatal disorders, infections of the nervous system, intoxications, head injuries, metabolic deficits, neurodegenerative diseases or toxic agents.
With this in mind, we can find a series of symptoms and signs (or what is the same, syndromes) that, when brought together in time and form and with several causes, are the main causes of epileptic seizures; For example, him West syndrome, which is characterized by presenting massive myoclonic spasms (that is, sudden and involuntary jerking of a group of muscles) as well as psychomotor and mental deterioration.
It appears frequently before the sixth month of life, and is associated with encephalopathy, cerebral malformation or sequel of meningoencephalitis. The prognosis is very unfavorable, since it tends to a progressive deterioration in addition to being resistant to drug treatment.
Another of the epileptic syndromes of childhood is the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, whose appearance is between two and eight years old and is in crisis that can occur in many forms: tonic, atonic, absences and status epilepticus. (Of all these forms of crisis we will talk soon). This form of epileptic syndrome is mentally impaired with progressive deterioration in most cases, which makes the prognosis not very favorable.
The infantile beningna epilepsy It is the most frequent form in childhood, being transmitted in an autosomal dominant way, that is, you only need to receive the defective gene from one of the parents to inherit the disease. It usually begins before the age of ten, and the crisis occurs during sleep or at the time of awakening. In this syndrome there are usually no neuropsychological alterations, although if some symptoms that affect speech are appreciated, such as the emission of guttural sounds (sounds made with the throat).
Finally, we can also find the benign psychomotor epilepsy, an epilepsy modality of unknown, partial and benign cause. The symptoms associated with this syndrome are predominantly affective of fear or terror. It is usually accompanied by problems with chewing, swallowing (when eating food), laughter, paleness or sweating. Your prognosis is very favorable.
These are the main childhood epileptic syndromes. In future posts we will talk about the different classifications of childhood epilepsy, as well as their respective therapeutic options.
