Migraine and other clinical syndromes in children affected by EEG occipital spike-wave complexes

Twenty EEG recordings obtained in children showed temporo-parieto occipital or temporo-occipital spikes or spike-wave complexes suppressed by eye-opening. Patients showed different neurological syndromes: classic migraine, vertebrobasilar migraine, visual phenomena, epilepsy, psychomotor retardation. Thirteen subjects were affected by epileptic seizures, which were preceded by visual phenomena in 12 cases. In 6 cases, a combination of classic migraine, visual phenomena and seizures was found. In one case of vertebrobasilar migraine, seizures occurred 5 years after the first episode of migraine. Follow-up data indicate a non-benign evolution of occipital epilepsy: partial or generalized seizures persisted in 13 treated cases. Moreover, the EEG finding of occipital spike-wave complexes seems to extend to different neurological syndromes.