Abstract
Clinical and electroencephalographic features of epilepsy and the prognosis of intelligence were investigated in 156 children with hydrocephalus. Of these 53 (34.0%) had epilepsy. The incidence and outcome of epilepsy were determined by the etiology of hydrocephalus. The incidence was high in children with hydrocephalus caused by intra-cranial infection and dysgenetic hydrocephalus without dysraphism. Furthermore, it was difficult to control the epileptic seizures in these patients. In contrast, children with dysgenetic hydrocephalus caused by dysraphism and simple hydrocephalus had lower incidence of epilepsy and epileptic seizures had been well controlled in these cases.
In hydrocephalic children, localization-related epilepsy was the most common. Complex partial seizures and focal motor seizures were frequently observed. Common electroencephalographic findings were focal spikes or multi-focal spikes. The intelligence quotient was significantly lower in children with epilepsy than in those without epilepsy. All these findings suggest that the incidence of epilepsy may be a crucial prognostic factor in children with hydrocephalus.
