A Case of Abdominal Epilepsy Diagnosed by 24-hour Electroencephalogram Monitoring.

Youn,  Young Ah; Cho,  Sun Young; Lee,  Kyung Yil; Lee,  In Goo; Lee,  Joon Sung

Case Report

Journal of the Korean Child Neurology Society 2006;14(2):337-341.
Published online November 30, 2006.

A Case of Abdominal Epilepsy Diagnosed by 24-hour Electroencephalogram Monitoring.

Young Ah Youn, Sun Young Cho, Kyung Yil Lee, In Goo Lee, Joon Sung Lee

Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Catholic university of Korea, Seoul, Korea. leekyungyil@catholic.ac.kr

Abstract

Abdominal epilepsy is an infrequent syndrome which occurrs with gastrointestinal complaints caused by a seizure activity. It is characterized by paroxysmal onset of abdominal pain without visceral disorders, but comes along with the alteration of awareness during the attack and abnormal electroencephalogram(EEG) findings. Like other epilepsies, this abdominal epilepsy is improved with anticonvulsant medication. We present a 14 year-old boy who had recurrent episodes of abdominal pain for 2 months, accompanied by hyperventilation and alteration of awareness. His interictal EEG findings were normal, but 24 hour EEG monitoring showed multifocal spikes and generalized epileptiform discharges when abdominal pain developed. After the medication with valproate, he became free of symptoms and signs.

Key Words: Abdominal epilepsy, 24-hours EEG monitoring