Developmental dysphasia and epileptiform EEG activity in children
Objective. To study the electrical activity of the brain in children with developmental dysphasia (alalia). Material and methods. We analyzed the EEGs of 65 children with developmental dysphasia, including 48 boys and 17 girls, aged from 3 to 4 years 11 months. General speech underdevelopment (GSU) of the 1st level (with active vocabulary less than 15-20 words) was found in 31 children and GSU of the 2nd level (with active vocabulary of 20-50 words) - in 34 children. To specify the changes in the brain electrical activity, we conducted video-EEG-monitoring during sleep and waking states in 27 patients. Results. Focal epileptiform EEG changes with no concomitant paroxysmal symptoms were recorded in 12,3% of children with dysphasia. The epileptiform activity was more frequent in GSU of the 1st level (5 (16.1%) patients) than in GSU of the 2nd level (3 (8.8%) patients). Benign epileptiform discharges of childhood with low index were identified in 2 (6,5%) children with GSU of the 1st level and in1 (2,9%) child with GSU of the 2nd level; low index spike-waves were recorded in 3 (9,7%) children with GSU of the 1st level and in 2 (5,9%) with GSU of the 2nd level. Conclusion. The data allow to clarify the frequency of epileptiform EEG activity in those children with developmental dysphasia, who do not have autism or history of seizures. The differential diagnosis with rare epileptic encephalopathies is needed, such as epilepsy with electrical status epilepticus during slow sleep (ESES) and Landau-Kleffner syndrome.