Clinical and neurophysiological characteristics of epilepsy with blink inducing / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To summarize the clinical and neurophysiological characteristics of epilepsy with blink inducing.Methods:The patients with epilepsy with blink test positive who received 24 h-video-electroencephalography (24 h-VEEG) monitoring from May 2017 to May 2022 in the Xijing Hospital, the Air Force Military Medical University were enrolled. Their clinical and electrophysiological characteristics were studied and they were followed up to observe their prognosis.Results:A total of 42 patients with epilepsy with blink test positive were collected, 1 of whom was lost to follow-up. The remaining 41 patients included 18 males (44%) and 23 females (56%), whose age was 3 to 12 (8.1±2.6) years. Self-limited epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (SeLECTS) was diagnosed in 35 patients, self-limited epilepsy with autonomic seizures in 3, and developmental epileptic encephalopathy with spike-and-wave activation in sleep in 3, respectively. The electrical status epilepticus during sleep (ESES) was found in 31 patients (76%), whereas 10 (24%) without ESES. Thirty-two patients experienced 24 h-VEEG monitoring more than twice, and 23 of them were seizure free, of whom blink inducing disappeared in 14 patients and existed in 9 in the last 24 h-VEEG monitoring. Among the 9 patients who were not seizure free, blink inducing disappeared in 3 patients and remained in 6. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups ( P>0.05). The age of the patients whose blink inducing disappeared in the last 24 h-VEEG monitoring after treatment was (11.3±3.1) years. Meanwhile the age of the patients whose blink inducing remained was (9.1±2.3) years, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( t=2.254, P=0.030). Conclusions:Blink inducing is highly age-dependent and common in self-limited focal epilepsy and developmental epileptic encephalopathy, especially in SeLECTS. Moreover, patients with ESES are more likely to be blink test positive. There was no correlation between blink inducing and seizure outcome.