CLINICAL AND EEG ASYMMETRIES IN JUVENILE MYOCLONIC EPILEPSY

We reviewed records of 85 patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (J ME) for significant asymmetries in clinical seizures or the EEG. We no ted asymmetries in 26 of 85 patients (30.6%). Only 2 patients had both clinical and EEG asymmetries; 12 had clinical asymmetries and 12 had EEG asymmetries exclusively. Analysis of patients with and without asy mmetries showed no statistically significant differences in comparison s of sex, age at seizure onset, family history of epilepsy, seizure ty pe, or response to treatment. The delay in diagnosis was greater in JM E patients with asymmetries (9.5 years) than in JME patients with no a symmetries (7.5 years), but this difference was not statistically sign ificant. Fourteen of the 26 patients with asymmetries (53.8%) were ini tially misdiagnosed as having partial seizures. Asymmetries in JME pat ients are not only common, but are also a frequent cause of misdiagnos is.