Non-Epileptic Childhood Paroxysmal Disorders

This is a book written for those of us who evaluate the many quirks and behaviors encountered in the lives of developing children. The number of important pathologic conditions that befall this age group is staggering. However, equally staggering is the number of episodic and often benign or developmentally programmed paroxysmal events encountered in this population. The nature of these episodic events in many circumstances leads to their erroneous identification as epileptic in nature. It is my hope that this book will serve as a compendium of those episodically manifest entities often uniquely observed in childhood. The book is organized with some foundations in terminology and an in depth analysis of epidemiology of many of these disorders. As best possible, epidemiologic data are compiled with incidence and prevalence figures provided for comparisons. Discussion on the deductive approach to their clinical assessment is provided along with emphasis on the diagnostic clues contained within the descriptive and observational information provided during clinical evaluation. A categorization of the differential features and ages of presentation are provided as a means to help direct logical diagnostic considerations. Subsequent chapters are organized by major topic (i.e.) Syncopes, Sleep Phenomena, Somatizaion, Factitious Illness, Movement Disorders, and Migraine Syndromes. Each chapter provides discourse on the general principles of underlying pthophysiologic mechanisms and curent knowledge about the chapter topic under discussion. Specific clinical entities encompassed within the general topic are then discussed individually with particular attention to their clinical descriptions and presentations, natural history, particular pathophysiology, genetics, pertinent laboratory, and treatments. The text is aplified by pertinent tables highlighting diagnostic criteria where this applies and reference information where needed. The text is generously referenced to encompass the most relevant information available.