Benign idiopathic occipital epilepsy: report of a case of the late (Gastaut) type [corrected].

We report the electro-clinical characteristics of a case with Gastaut type idiopathic occipital epilepsy. The visual seizures, a cardinal feature of the syndrome, are described and illustrated by video sequences. A number of stereotyped seizures are shown where the child, an 11-year-old boy, clearly describes the visual phenomena experienced. Prognosis of this common form of partial idiopathic epilepsy is relatively good but, as in our case, seizures may be very frequent during a long period of time. In such cases the term 'benign' is probably not the most appropriate.