Quantitative analysis of EEG background activity in patients with rolandic spikes

Objective: The aim was to compare the background activity, through quantitative EEG analysis, of patients with rolandic spikes and normal age-matched controls. Material and methods: Twenty-one channel EEG of 23 children with rolandic spikes and 39 normal children, with ages ranging from 7 to 12 years, were submitted to quantitative analysis (FFT) of discharge-free epochs. Patients and controls were divided in groups according to age (7-9 and 10-12 years old). Delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency ranges were compared between groups for all electrode positions. Results: Comparing normals, the 7-9 years old group showed power reduction in the alpha and beta ranges. Comparing patients and normal age-matched groups, the patients showed power increase, at all frequency ranges in the 7-9 years old group and at delta and theta frequency ranges in the 10-12 years old group. Conclusions: Our findings agree with recent evidences that these children may differ from normal (besides the eventual occurrence of seizures); but they also suggest that these differences can be related to immaturity and not necessarily related to the epileptiform discharge. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.