An Up-To-Date List of Childhood Epilepsy Syndromes

Epilepsy is very varied and affects many people in different ways. There is still much that is unknown about epilepsy and more research is needed before we can fully understand it. One of the many differences that can illustrate this is a collection of childhood epilepsy syndromes. 

There are new epilepsy syndromes included and classified often and some change from time to time. This list is accurate as of 5th April 2021. 

What is an Epilepsy Syndrome? 

A syndrome is a collection of symptoms and signs that can be used to diagnose a particular epilepsy syndrome. Once the syndrome has been diagnosed, it enables healthcare professionals to provide more informed treatment and to provide a more accurate prognosis. 

Signs and symptoms can be extremely varied and present in more than one syndromes. These include common examples such as, age of first seizure activity, the type of seizure that occurs and gender. Although they can be far less common.  

Understanding the epilepsy syndrome a child has been diagnosed with will improve treatment options that are tailored to a particular syndrome, although in some cases the diagnosis can be difficult. 

Some syndromes are very similar, which can lead to misdiagnosis or no diagnosis. On the other hand, some syndromes are so wildly different that it’s hard to believe that they’re both classified as epilepsy. 

More Information on Individual Epilepsy Syndromes

Research is ongoing for epilepsy syndromes. Below is a list of the current known syndromes and a link to more information on each one. 

Please note: Information on some syndromes currently not included and will be updated soon. 

• Aicardi syndrome
• Angelman syndrome
• Benign myoclonic epilepsy in infancy
• Childhood absence epilepsy (CAE)
• Childhood epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes
• Dravet syndrome
• ESES Electrical status epilepticus during slow-wave sleep
• Early myoclonic encephalopathy
• Epilepsy and limbic encephalitis (LE)
• Epilepsy of infancy with migrating focal seizures
• Epilepsy with myoclonic absences
• Eyelid myoclonia with absences (EMA)
• GEFS+ Genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus
• GLUT1 deficiency syndrome
• Gelastic epilepsy
• Juvenile absence epilepsy
• Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME)
• Landau Kleffner syndrome
• Lennox-Gastaut syndrome
• Myoclonic astatic epilepsy (Doose syndrome)
• Ohtahara syndrome
• Panayiotopoulos syndrome
• Rasmussen syndrome
• Rett syndrome
• Ring Chromosome 20
• Self-limited neonatal convulsions
• Self-limiting and pharmacoresponsive focal epilepsy in infancy
• Self-limiting late-onset occipital epilepsy
• Sturge-Weber syndrome
• Unverricht-Lundborg disease
• West syndrome (infantile spasms)

National Epilepsy Training can help

For more information on epilepsy syndromes, please get in touch. Call us on 01706 373075 or email admin@nationalepilepsytraining.co.uk.