Epilessia nelle malattie progressive: Percorso diagnostico

Epileptic seizures may be the early or prominent symptom in a number of progressive neurological disease with onset in infancy and childhood. In some cases, the epileptic syndrome may be typical enough to suspect a specific diagnosis or at least to suggest a progressive disorder. In most cases, however, the diagnostic suggestion comes from the recognition of selected-although not specific-electroclinical features properly integrated with clinical, electrophysiological and imaging findings. This paper focuses on the clinical and laboratory data that address the suspect of a progressive disorder, proposing a first-step diagnostic work-up to be used as a trace to more specific etiologic procedures. Moreover, it suggests the need for a close clinical and electrophysiological follow-up in those cases in which a diagnosis cannot be reached at the time of the first evaluation.