Medical Term:
childhood absence epilepsy
Definition: a generalized epilepsy syndrome characterized by the onset of absence seizures in childhood, typically at age 6 or 7 years. There is a strong genetic predisposition and girls are affected more often than boys. EEG reveals generalized 3-Hz spike-and-wave activity on a normal background. Prognosis for remission is good if the patient does not also have generalized tonic-clonic seizures.
Synonym(s): petit mal epilepsy, pyknoelepsy
See Also: absence
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