Epileptic seizures, epilepsy and epileptic syndromes in newborns: A nosological approach to 94 new cases by the 2001 proposed diagnostic scheme for people with epileptic seizures and with epilepsy

Purpose: To assess the advantages of the 2001 ILAE proposed diagnostic scheme for classification of newborns with epileptic seizures over the 1989 ILAE classification. Method: Clinical features, seizure semiology and duration, neurological evaluation, ictal and interictal EEG, brain imaging and outcome at the end of the neonatal period (44 weeks post-conceptional age) of 94 newborns with EEG confirmed seizures were analyzed. The 2001 ILAE classification was applied where possible. Results: Twenty patients died before the end of the neonatal period. In the remaining patients, applying axis 3, we classified 54 newborns as having epileptic seizures that do not require a diagnosis of epilepsy; 14 as symptomatic partial epilepsy; 5 within the neonatal epileptic syndromes and one as benign neonatal seizures (NS). Axis 4 in all newborns provided a valuable tool, in order to better define the individual patient. Conclusions: Compared to the 1989 ILAE classification, which allowed a syndromic diagnosis in only 6/94 patients, the remaining being classified as Epilepsies and Syndromes undetermined whether focal or generalized, the 2001 ILAE diagnostic scheme, applied at the end of the neonatal period, offers a variety of approaches to classification, allowing an early distinction between epilepsy and single or isolated clusters of seizures, with therapeutic and prognostic implications. (c) 2005 BEA Trading Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.