Hypsarrythmia – Do Age Have Any Relevance

Abstract

Hypsarrhythmia is a classical electroencephalographic finding in patients of infantile spasm and related syndromes like West syndrome and Otahara syndrome. It usually develops in early infancy and persists up to age of two years, after that it gets completely resolved or gets converted into other kinds of epilepsy. Persistence of hypsarrhythmia beyond this age group has rarely been reported in literature. In the present article we have noticed that hypsarrhythmia is present in older age group and it has also been noticed that these patients have first episode of seizure after the age of three years. Exact pathophysiology behind persistence of hypsarrhythmic pattern in patient more than 3 years and new onset of hypsarrhythmic pattern in older patients on electro encephalography is not known. Although it has been suggested that immaturity of thalamocortical synaptic pathway is responsible for hypsarrhythmia in infantile spasm.