Background
Symptomatic generalized epilepsy (SGE) encompasses a group of challenging epilepsy syndromes. As a group, SGE has 3 main features: (1) multiple seizure types, especially generalized tonic and atonic seizures; (2) brain dysfunction other than the seizures, in the intellectual domain (mental retardation or developmental delay) and in the motor domain (cerebral palsy); and (3) EEG evidence of diffuse brain abnormality.
The following are examples of epilepsy syndromes that are included in the category of SGE:
Early myoclonic encephalopathy
Early infantine epileptic encephalopathy with suppression bursts or Ohtahara syndrome
West syndrome
Epilepsy with myoclonic atonic seizures
Epilepsy with myoclonic absence
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome
Progressive myoclonic epilepsies
See the following Medscape Reference epilepsy topics for more information on these conditions: