Quantitative analysis of EEG background activity in patients with rolandicspikes

Objective: The aim was to compare the background activity, through quantita tive EEG analysis, of patients with rolandic spikes and normal age-matched controls. Material and methods: Twenty-one channel EEG of 23 children with rolandic s pikes and 39 normal children, with ages ranging from 7 to 12 years, were su bmitted to quantitative analysis (FFT) of discharge-free epochs. Patients a nd controls were divided in groups according to age (7-9 and 10-12 years ol d). Delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency ranges were compared between gro ups for all electrode positions. Results: Comparing normals, the 7-9 years old group showed power reduction in the alpha and beta ranges. Comparing patients and normal age-matched gro ups, the patients showed power increase, at all frequency ranges in the 7-9 years old group and at delta and theta frequency ranges in the 10-12 years old group. Conclusions: Our findings agree with recent evidences that these children m ay differ from normal (besides the eventual occurrence of seizures); but th ey also suggest that these differences can be related to immaturity and not necessarily related to the epileptiform discharge. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scien ce Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.