Components of generalized onset seizures with focal evolution progressing to bilateral tonic–clonic seizures using quantitative electroencephalography in children: Focal or generalized?

Description

Toro-Perez and colleagues dissect a seizure pattern in children whose epilepsy is classed as generalized, meaning seizures start across the whole brain at once. Some children begin with an absence, a blank stare spell, that then turns one sided before erupting into a full convulsion. Their 2026 review of a monitoring unit cohort uses EEG, computer analysis of brain wave recordings, to trace that path in children with brain scans.

Seven of 66 children with generalized epilepsy, all girls, showed the pattern, across eight recorded seizures. Wave analysis showed the slow spike wave rhythm of absence first. A focal buildup followed over the side frontal and back regions, stronger on the right, before the convulsion spread to both sides. The syndromes behind the cases were absence and myoclonic epilepsies of youth. The team proposes a relay through the thalamus, the brain's switchboard, and calls for cohorts to confirm the route.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13592482