Original article Photosensitivity in epileptic syndromes of childhood and adolescence

ABSTRACT – Purpose. Photosensitivity, a reaction of the brain to external photic stimulation, can be graded from 1 to 4, and is most frequently seen in the first decades of life. This study investigated photosensitivity in children with epi-lepsy. Methods. A retrospective study performed in the neuropaediatric depart-ment of the largest paediatric hospital in Kiel, treating patients at all medical care levels. The clinical data and EEG records of 566 patients with the most common epileptic syndromes were analyzed, in particular regarding photosen-sitivity. Their EEGs included application of intermittent light stimulation using standard techniques at twice the minimum. Results. The proportion of photo-sensitive patients was significantly higher in the paediatric cohort than in adult patients, as published in the literature: 46 % of patients with generalized epilepsies showed photosensitivity as compared to 20 % with focal epilepsies. Photosensitivity was more common in idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE), (epilepsy with grand mal on awakening, 74%; juvenile absence epilepsy, 56%; juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, 50%; childhood absence epilepsy, 44%) than i