Epileptic syndromes in children with somatosensory evoked spikes.

We studied 186 children with frequent EEG paroxysms evoked by tapping of the feet or hands (ES). Seventy-five (40.3%) patients had a history of epileptic seizures. Febrile convulsions alone occurred in 31 (16.7%) of the children and nonfebrile in 44 cases (23.7%). Non-febrile seizures occurred in a greater proportion among patients with ES than in a control group with normal EEG. Spontaneous epileptiform activity was recorded in 39.6% of the patients without epileptic seizures but in a great percentage of the children with seizures (85.3%). The non-febrile seizures were partial in 26 cases and generalized in 18. In 39 of these cases the EEG also showed spontaneous focal spikes, which occurred predominantly in the parietal regions in 24 cases. ES were observed in different types of partial and generalized epilepsies of childhood. Our findings also suggest that in an important proportion of cases there is a benign condition of a functional nature that is age-dependent, involving mainly the parietal lobe but in which seizure type does not so easily permit definition as a clearly characterized epileptic entity compared to other recognized idiopathic partial childhood epilepsies.