Frequency and types of epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy (CP)

Objective: to study the frequency and spectrum of epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy. place and duration of study: the study was conducted at the children's hospital and the institute of child health,lahore and jinnah hospital,lahore over a period of two years from 2007 to 2009. study design: this was a retrospective analysis of children with cerebral palsy treated at the children's hospital and the institute of child health,and jinnah hospital lahore. a total of 300 patients with cerebral palsy (cp) were studied to determine the correlation between the prevalence of epilepsy and correlation of epilepsy in different types of cerebral palsies. results: the overall frequency of epilepsy in children with cp was 58.6%. the frequency of epilepsy was predominant in patients with spastic quapriplegic (71.5%),diplegic (69%),hemiplegic (65%),and mixed (48%) cerebral palsies. generalized tonic-clonic seizures were the most common seizure type (75%) predominant in spastic-quadriplegic,diplegic cerebral palsies. on the other hand. partial seizures(22%) were associated frequently with hemiplegic,monoplegic and mixed types of cerebral palsies. mixed type of epilepsy was seen in (2.7%) of the patients. conclusion: cp is associated with a higher frequency of epilepsy. majority of the patients had onset of seizures in the first year of life. among the cerebral palsies spastic quadriplegic group being most affected. generalized tonic-clonic epilepsy was more frequently associated with spastic quadriplegic,and diplegic type of cps. partial epilepsy was most frequently associated with hemiplegic,monoplegic and mixed cerebral palsies.