The clinical course and outcome in Lennox- Gastaut syndrome

Abstract

Lennox- Gastaut syndrome (LGS), represents one of the most difficult seizure disorders of childhood. We investigated the prognosis of LGS in 32 patients followed approximately for 10 years. We report our patients' clinical course, changes in both EEG findings and seizure types as well as intellectual outcomes during follow up period. Cryptogenic LGS was diagnosed in 11 patients and symptomatic LGS in 21 patients. Fifteen patients had previously infantile spasms. At the beginning, we observed slow- spike wave discharges in EEG of all the patients. At the last examination, there were intellectual decline in all patients. Fifty-five % of patients with cryptogenic and 43% with symptomatic LGS had last characteristics of LGS. In time, we observed multiple independent spike foci (25%), and active generalized epileptic discharges (13%) in their EEG recordings.