[Petit mal epilepsy in adulthood].

Case-histories and EEG-findings have been analyzed in 42 patients of whom 34 were still suffering from petit-mal seizures after the age of 25 years, while the remaining 8 showed subclinical 3 c/sec spike-waves in the interval between grand-mal attacks. Out of these 42 patients, 20 had "primary generalized" i.e. "idiopathic" epilepsy, 19 of the 20 having had it since childhood or adolescence. Only in one case (5%) did there seem to be a later onset. In 3 of the remaining 22 patients (14%) suffering from "secondary generalized" i.e. "symptomatic" epilepsy, the age of onset was between 20 and 22 years. 24% of all patients exhibited petit-mal states in the course of their illness. In the female population petit-mal states were found in 33% and in the male population only in 11%. In none of 8 patients who suffered from grand-mal seizures alone and had subclinical 3 c/sec spike-waves did there appear to be any petit-mal seizures during an average observation time of 3 years.