Research on the electro-clinical aspects of epilepsy patients with breach rhythm / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and electroencephalogram (EEG) of epilepsy patients with breach rhythm, improve clinical understanding of breach rhythm and avoid over-interpretation.Methods:Twelve epilepsy patients with breach rhythm who visited the Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, the Air Force Military Medical University from January 2016 to January 2017 were collected retrospectively. The clinical data, including etiology, clinical manifestations, EEG features and prognosis were summarized, and outpatient and telephone follow-up was performed for at least three years.Results:The clinical data of 12 patients with epilepsy with breach rhythm were collected, including eight males and four females, aged 36-78 years. After analysis, it was found that brain trauma was the most common cause of breach rhythm. Among them, two cases of skull defect were not repaired, eight cases were repaired with skull titanium mesh, one case was repaired with skull polymethylmethacrylate, and one case was repaired with skull polyetheretherketone. The distribution of the breach rhythm in 12 patients was consistent with the abnormal area of the skull. The breach rhythm can be expressed as high amplitude and fast frequency, or low amplitude and slow frequency and appear individually (similar to sharp waves, spikes). On the basis of pleomorphic slow waves, 10 patients were mixed with sharp waves and spike waves, and imaging confirmed that they had brain damage in corresponding parts. All of the 12 patients had a history of seizures, with tonic-clonic seizures and (or) focal seizures being the most common. Three patients with breach rhythm had no clinical seizures for more than five years, and had been taking antiepileptic drugs for epileptic spikes on EEG, and they were given reduction and discontinuation of the drugs and were seizure-free for three years during follow up.Conclusions:Skull repair is a common cause of breach rhythm, and repair materials with different resistances cause different waveforms and frequencies. Breach rhythm, epileptiform discharge and other pathological slow-wave activities can exist at the same time. Breach rhythm is a benign variant phenomenon which needs no special treatment.