Abstracts

RATIONALE: Electronic Screen Games (ESG) and computer activities are frequent facets in a child[ssquote]s daily life and may potentiate seizures. We reviewed our outpatient clinical records for the past 3 years to determine appropriate guidelines for parents/patients to follow after an ESG induced seizure.
METHODS: We reviewed 324 patient charts that had a diagnosis of generalized epilepsy from July 1999 - April 2002. Thirteen patients were identified as having ESG induced seizures. We reviewed their clinical presentation, EEG findings, epilepsy diagnosis, clinical course and obtained follow up.
RESULTS: 12 of the 13 patients were available for follow up. Patients[ssquote] ages ranged from 9 [ndash] 18 years, (mean of 12.2 years); male-9, and female-2. Two of the 12 were diagnosed with absence seizures but presented with a generalized tonic clonic (GTC) at the time of the ESG induced seizure. Both of these patients are seizure free on AEDs. Seven had a single GTC seizure that was triggered by an electronic stimulus. Three of these patients are seizure free without medication and have continued to avoid the stimulus. The remaining 4 are well controlled on a single AED. The remaining three patients have intractable mixed generalized seizures, are on multiple AEDs, and continue to have recurrent ECG induced seizures if they are exposed to the stimulus.
CONCLUSIONS: The most common seizure type in our patient population with ESG induced seizures was GTC seizures. The risk of recurrence was low if patients complied with avoidance of the trigger and followed treatment recommendations. The patients who continued to have ESG induced seizures had intractable mixed generalized seizures and remain on multiple AEDs.