Early epileptic encephalopathies including West syndrome: a 3-year retrospective study from Klang Hospital, Malaysia

It is difficult to give a contry report from Malaysia. A study done in 1999 reported the incidence of West Syndrome to be 3% among newly diagnosed cases of epilepsy. In this 3 year retrospective hospital-based study (1997-1999), the prevalence of early epileptic encephalopathy (EEE) and West Syndrome were 4.1 and 2.5% respectively. There is difficulty classifying EEE cases into distinct sub-rroups of EIEE (early infantile epileptic encephlopathy), WS (West Syndrome) and SMEI (severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancey), using a combination of clinical features, EEG and CT/MRI findings. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.