Childhood epileptic syndromes with generally good prognosis
| Syndrome | Comment |
|---|---|
| Benign neonatal familial convulsions | Dominant, may be severe and resistant during a few days. Febrile or afebrile seizures (benign) may occur later in a minority |
| Infantile familial convulsions | Dominant, seizures often in clusters (overlap with benign partial complex epilepsy of infancy)25 |
| Febrile convulsions | In some families, febrile and afebrile convulsions occur in different members, the so-called GEFS+ (generalised epilepsy with febrile seizures +); the old dichotomy between febrile convulsions or epilepsy does not always hold |
| Benign myoclonic epilepsy of infancy26 | Often seizures during sleep, one rare variety with reflex myoclonic seizures (touch, noise) |
| Partial idiopathic epilepsy with rolandic spikes | The most frequent; see box 2 |
| Idiopathic occipital partial epilepsy | Early childhood form with seizures during sleep and ictal vomiting, may present as status epilepticus.25,27–29 Later forms with migrainous symptoms; not always benign30 |
| Petit mal absence epilepsy | Cases with absences only, some have generalised seizures. 60–80% full remission; in most cases, absences disappear on therapy but there are resistant cases (unpredictable)31 |
| Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy | Adolescence onset, with early morning myoclonic seizures and generalised seizures during sleep; often history of absences in childhood |