Five-year follow-up of patients with partial epilepsies in infancy

The aim of this study is to clarify the long-term outcome of patients with partial epilepsies that begin in the first 2 years of age. Thirty-nine infa nts who experienced partial epilepsies with onset by 2 years of age were fo llowed until they were at least 5 years of age. Seizure and developmental o utcome were investigated in relation to the following items: delayed psycho motor development before onset of seizures; interictal electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities; abnormal neuroimaging; family history of epilepsy; an d history of neonatal seizures. Thirty-three infants achieved freedom from seizures and 27 achieved normal development. Delayed development before the onset and abnormal interictal EEG correlated with both poor seizure and de velopmental outcome. Abnormal neuroimaging findings correlated with a poor seizure outcome. A history of neonatal seizures and lack of a family histor y of epilepsy correlated with poor developmental outcome. The combination o f the first four factors predicted a normal outcome with a sensitivity of 0 .79 and a specificity of 0.87, The seizure and developmental outcomes were better in this study than those in previous studies. The combination of the four factors will be useful for predicting the outcomes in patients with p artial epilepsies in infancy. (C) 2001 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.