Seizures and electroencephalography findings in 61 patients with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Eur J Med Genet. 2017 Jan;60(1):72-78. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmg.2016.09.012. Epub 2016 Sep 13.

Abstract

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) cause neurodevelopmental abnormalities. However, publications about epilepsy and electroencephalographic features are scarce. In this study, we prospectively performed electroencephalography (EEG) and brain magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in 61 patients with diagnosis of FASD. One patient had multiple febrile seizures with normal EEGs. Fourteen children showed EEG anomalies, including slow background activity and interictal epileptiform discharges, focal and/or generalized, and 3 of them had epilepsy. In one patient, seizures were first detected during the EEG recording and one case had an encephalopathy with electrical status epilepticus during slow sleep (ESES). Focal interictal discharges in our patients did not imply the presence of underlying visible focal brain lesions in the neuroimaging studies, such as cortical dysplasia or polymicrogyria. However, they had nonspecific brain MR abnormalities, including corpus callosum hypoplasia, vermis hypoplasia or cavum septum pellucidum. The latter was significantly more frequent in the group with EEG abnormal findings (p < 0.01).

Keywords: Alcohol-related; Cavum septum pellucidum; EEG; ESES; Epilepsy; Seizures.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Electroencephalography
  • Epilepsy / chemically induced
  • Epilepsy / diagnostic imaging*
  • Epilepsy / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / diagnostic imaging*
  • Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / physiopathology
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Neuroimaging / methods
  • Pregnancy
  • Seizures / chemically induced
  • Seizures / diagnostic imaging*
  • Seizures / physiopathology
  • Septum Pellucidum / diagnostic imaging*
  • Septum Pellucidum / drug effects