Centro-temporal spikes in non-epileptic children: A long-term follow up

Objective: This study was undertaken in order to determine the natural evol ution of centro-temporal spikes (CTS) in a healthy paediatric population. Methodology: Forty children and adolescents (mean age +/- SD: 9.9 +/- 4.1 y ears) with non-epileptic disturbances (tics, headache, paver nocturnus, ver tigo, etc), who showed CTS during routine EEG recordings were studied. No p atient suffered from seizures. A clinical and electroencephalographic follo w-up of at least 5.5 years was carried out in all subjects, Results: At the follow-up examination, 33 of the 40 cases (82.5%) had no CT S or other epileptic discharges in awake and sleep EEGs, while six subjects continued to show CTS discharges in sleep EEG, Among those subjects who sh owed persistence of CTS in sleep EEG, rolandic epilepsy developed in two ca ses, while all other subjects continued to be seizure free. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that CTS can be present in non-epilept ic children and adolescents; in the majority of subjects this EEG abnormali ty disappears spontaneously and only a small percentage of subjects who hav e persistence of this pattern develops rolandic epilepsy.