Highlights & Basics
- Typical absence seizure: behavioral arrest or staring, lasting 5 to 10 seconds, interrupting otherwise normal activity. Can be hyperventilation-induced.
- Atypical absence seizures: less distinct beginning and end, not usually precipitated by hyperventilation.
- Electroencephalogram (EEG) is the definitive test. Determining the exact nature of the seizure is key to the appropriate treatment and prognosis.
- Most typical absence seizures are medically responsive, and childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) tends to remit by adulthood. Typical absence seizures in CAE, juvenile absence epilepsy (JAE), and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) are treated with ethosuximide, valproate, or lamotrigine as first-line therapies.
- Atypical absence seizures tend to be medically refractory and associated with intellectual disability. Atypical absence seizures in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and epilepsy with myoclonic absences are treated with valproate or lamotrigine as first-line therapies.
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Glauser TA, Cnaan A, Shinnar S, et al. Ethosuximide, valproic acid and lamotrigine in childhood absence epilepsy: initial monotherapy outcomes at 12 months. Epilepsia. 2013 Jan;54(1):141-55.[Abstract][Full Text]
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