EEG evaluation of fixation-off sensitivity in eyelid myoclonia with absences.

A 14-year-old female of moderately retarded intelligence exhibited frequent seizures of eyelid myoclonia with absences. Video-electroencephalographic recording revealed that slow eye closure was followed by eyelid myoclonia with absence seizures and that paroxysmal burst activities in the occipital region always preceded generalized spike-wave discharges. Paroxysmal burst activities were induced not only by slow eye closure but also by fixation-off, wearing Frenzel glasses. We speculate that the sensitivity to fixation-off in the occipital lobe is one of the triggering mechanisms in eyelid myoclonia with absences.