Syndromes

(Childhood epilepsies)

Epilepsy Action is indebted to Dr Richard Appleton, a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist who specialises in children’s epilepsy, and to Dr Rachel Kneen, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist and Dr Stewart Macleod, Specialist Registrar in paediatric neurology, at Alder Hey at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, who have kindly prepared the information on this page.

What is a syndrome?

A syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms that, added together, suggest a particular medical condition. In epilepsy, examples of these signs and symptoms would be things like the age at which seizures begin, the type of seizures, whether the child is male or female and whether they experience difficulties with learning.

If a child is diagnoses with a particular syndrome, it allows doctors to provide more information about what is most likely to happen to them in future years, not only from the point of view of the epilepsy but also in relation to other features such as learning skills.

In the UK there are support groups for parents of children with some types of syndrome. Details of the support groups can be obtained from the following:

Contact A Family
209-211 City Road
London EC1V 1JN
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7608 8714
Freephone helpline: +44 (0)808 808 3555
Email: info@cafamily.org.uk
Minicom line: +44 (0)808 808 3556
www.cafamily.org.uk

• Children- and education-related links

More information

• Aicardi syndrome

• Angelman syndrome

• Baltic myoclonus

• BECOP (Benign epilepsy of childhood with occipital paroxysms)

• Benign myoclonic epilepsy in infancy

• Benign partial epilepsy in infancy

• Benign rolandic epilepsy

• Childhood absence epilepsy

• Early myoclonic encephalopathy

• Epilepsy with myoclonic absences

• ESESS (Electrical status epilepticus during slow-wave sleep)

• GEFS+ (Generalised epilespy with febrile seizures plus)

• Gelastic epilepsy

• Infantile spasms

• Janz syndrome

• Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

• Landau Kleffner syndrome

• Lennox-Gastaut syndrome

• Migrating partial epilepsy

• Myoclonic astatic epilepsy

• Otahara syndrome

• Panayiotopoulous syndrome

• Ramsay Hunt syndrome

• Rasmussen syndrome

• Rett syndrome

• Ring 20 syndrome

• SMEI (Severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy)

• Sturge-Weber syndrome

• Unverricht-Lundborg syndrome

• West’s syndrome

• Pyridoxine responsive epilepsy