Benign partial seizures of adolescence

Purpose: A benign syndrome of partial seizures in adolescents (BPSA) was de scribed by Loiseau et al. in 1978, but confirmation of this syndrome has be en lacking. We sought to identify BPSA among teenagers with new-onset focal seizures enrolled in our prospective first-seizure study and to assess the EEG and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Methods: We searched the study database for patients aged between 10 and 20 years with focal seizures who did not have idiopathic partial epilepsies, epileptogenic lesions on MRI, or recurrent tonic-clonic seizures during 2 y ears of follow-up. Results: The database contained 92 adolescents, including 37 with partial e pilepsy, of whom eight (22%) patients matched the description of BPSA. All eight patients had seizures with a sensory/motor "march." Six had a seconda rily generalized seizure and two had simple partial seizures alone. Epilept iform abnormalities were documented in five cases but lacked a distinctive morphology or distribution. No lesions were seen on MRI. Conclusions: BPSA can be provisionally diagnosed in teenagers with unprovok ed focal seizures characterized by a march of sensory/motor symptoms, whose MRI is normal. The psychosocial consequences of chronic epilepsy in adoles cence are considerable, so early recognition of this benign syndrome is imp ortant.