Distinguishing childhood absence epilepsy patients from controls by the analysis of their background brain electrical activity

Background electroencephalography (EEG), recorded with scalp electrodes, in children with childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) and control individuals has been analyzed. We considered 5 CAE patients, all right-handed females and aged 6–8 years. The 15 control individuals had the same characteristics of the CAE ones, but presented a normal EEG. The EEG was obtained using bipolar connections from a standard 10–20 electrode placement (Fp1, Fp2, F7, F3, Fz, F4, F8, T3, C3, Cz, C4, T4, T5, P3, Pz, P4, T6, O1 and O2). Recordings were undertaken in the resting state with eyes closed. EEG hallmarks of absence seizure activity are widely accepted, but there is a recognition that the bulk of interictal EEG in CAE appears normal to visual inspection. The functional activity between electrodes was evaluated using a wavelet decomposition in conjunction with the Wootters distance. Then, pairs of electrodes with differentiated behavior between CAE and controls were identified using a test statistic-based feature selection technique. This approach identified clear differences between CAE and healthy control background EEG in the frontocentral electrodes, as measured by Principal Component Analysis. The findings of this pilot study can have strong implications in future clinical practice.