EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS (P300) AND EEG ACTIVITY IN CHILDHOOD PARTIALEPILEPSY

To clarify the relationship between the cognitive function and EEG act ivity, auditory event-related potentials (P300) were examined in 72 pa tients with partial epilepsy. Twenty-six patients (67 trials) had idio pathic partial epilepsies (IPE), and 46(118 trials) symptomatic or cry ptogenic partial epilepsies (SPE). For this study, patients undergoing carbamazepine monotherapy with a dose of less than 16 mg/kg/day were selected to rule out the effects of anti-epileptic drugs. The results were as follows: (1) The P300 latency tended to be prolonged in associ ation with the EEG slowing in both epileptic groups. (2) There was no dear relationship between the frequency of paroxysmal discharges and t he P300 latency. (3) The P300 latency was slightly prolonged in the pa tients with temporal foci compared with that in ones with extra-tempor al foci. (4) There was no significant relationship between the general ization of focal paroxysmal discharges and the P300 latency. These res ults suggested that the influence of EEG abnormalities (particularly p aroxysmal discharges) on the P300 latency is relatively little, and th e cognitive dysfunction in partial epilepsies mainly originates from o ther factors such as the epileptogenic lesion itself. (C) 1997 Elsevie r Science B.V.