ABSTRACT
The classification of the myoclonic epilepsies in infancy and childhood has been controversial.1-7 The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classification8
includes benign myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (BMEI) among the idiopathic generalized epilepsies and considers it to be an early presentation of idiopathic myoclonic epilepsy. The high incidence of educational difficulties in these children raises questions about the use of the term ‘benign’, which is reserved usually for epilepsies associated with normal neuropsychologic development. Since its description in 1981, 67 cases of BMEI had been reported by 2002.9,10 We have followed 25 cases (Fejerman and Caraballo, unpublished report, 2002).
