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Purpose: When performed correctly, hyperventilation (HV) for three minutes provokes absence seizures in virtually all children, a finding suggestive of a diagnosis of childhood absence epilepsy (CAE). Interestingly, some children experience absence seizures while performing HV in the office yet do not experience absences during HV on subsequent routine EEG. In most instances, HV during routine EEG is performed in the supine position, while in the office HV is done with the child sitting-up. Therefore, we hypothesized that the position in which HV is performed may influence its yield in provoking absence seizures., Methods: We conducted a randomized multi-center controlled trial among children (4-10 years old) with suspected CAE. During a routine EEG, children were asked to perform HV twice, in the supine and sitting positions., Results: Twenty children (four males) diagnosed with CAE were included in the analysis. Seventeen of the 20 patients experienced absence seizures while sitting and 13 experienced seizures during supine HV (p = 0.031). All patients that had absence seizures during supine HV also had seizures during sitting HV. Among patients with absences in both positions, seizure duration was significantly shorter during sitting HV (mean 8.69 seconds) than during supine HV (mean 12 seconds) (p = 0.042). An opposite tendency was seen in the younger age group (4-7 years), with shorter seizures in the supine HV group (5.6 seconds supine, 7.57 seconds sitting, p = 0.019)., Conclusions: HV in the sitting position may increase the yield of provoking absence seizures during routine EEGs, thereby improving its sensitivity in the diagnosis of CAE., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2020 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The aim of the study was to evaluate changes in electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings during the course of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children. The study group consisted of 48 children with ALL who underwent a total of 72 EEGs at various stages of the disease. The medical files were reviewed for pertinent clinical data, and the EEGs were evaluated for changes in brain activity. Abnormal background activity was noted in 52.2% of the EEGs done at 1-10 days of therapy, in 43.5% of those done at 10-60 days, and only 4.3% of those done at later stages (p=0.037). These findings, together with earlier reports, suggest that early-stage ALL, even before treatment, may be associated with excessive slow EEG activity, which improves over time. The EEG changes, by themselves, are not an indication of central nervous system leukemia or a predictor of later seizures or other central nervous system involvement., (Copyright © 2011 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The duration of postictal language dysfunction following a temporal lobe complex partial seizure (TLCPS) is longer when the seizure originates in the dominant hemisphere. However, the effects of older age and the presence of a structural lesion ipsilateral to the area of origin of the seizure remain unknown. Postictal language delay (PILD) was analyzed in relation to age and presence of a structural lesion in 47 patients, 28 with dominant TLCPSs and 19 with nondominant TLCPSs (total 173 seizures). Mean ages of the groups were 32.5 years (range: 16-68) and 36.1 years (range: 21-50), respectively. Nonsclerotic structural lesions were found by magnetic resonance imaging in 13 patients, eight with seizures in the dominant hemisphere and five with seizures in the nondominant hemisphere. Age did not affect PILD regardless of the lateralization of the seizures. The presence of a structural lesion significantly prolonged PILD only in the patients with nondominant TLCPS (p = 0.019). In conclusion, the anatomical site of seizure onset may not be the only determinant of the nature of the postictal state. PILD can provide important information on seizure localization and spread.