Childhood absence epilepsy

A 7-year-old female presented with brief episodes of staring that lasted for a few seconds. These episodes recurred multiple times throughout the day. She was taken to her primary care physician when she suddenly stopped walking in the middle of a busy intersection. She appeared to abruptly freeze and was motionless until her parents noticed that she was lagging behind. They returned to assist her safely across the street. According to her parents, she had been an excellent student. However, recently they had been receiving notes from her teachers reporting that she had been periodically staring into space. She appeared as if she were daydreaming. They were significant enough to interfere with her ability to attend to her classes. The symptoms became especially alarming when she experienced an episode associated with urinary incontinence at school. She had no other complaints and was developmentally and neurologically normal on examination. Laboratory studies were unremarkable and she was referred for a routine EEG (Fig. 4.1).