We aimed to determine seizure characteristics of pediatric patients with epilepsy, and evaluate if Semiological Seizure Classification (SSC) system is applicable in this cohort.

We retrospectively studied 183 patients, aged between 3 months-18 years, admitted to the video-EEG monitoring unit (VEMU). Most patients suffered from intractable epilepsy with comorbidities, and had structural lesions. Seizures were classified based on ictal video-EEG recordings by using SSC system; 157 patients had only one seizure type, 26 had more than one seizure types. Overall 211 seizures and 373 semiologies were analyzed; 114 seizures (54%) had more than one semiological subtype. The most frequent semiology was motor seizures (78%), followed by dialeptic seizures (12%). The most common subtypes were simple motor seizures (49%); tonic seizures constituted (28.4%) of all semiologies.

We conclude that SSC system is applicable for children with epilepsy admitted to VEMU; complementary EEG and imaging data are required for evaluation of patients with epilepsy.

Keywords: semiologic seizure classification, epilepsy, children, video-EEG monitoring