Objective To summarize the clinical characteristics of epilepsy comorbid with tic disorders in children, and discuss its diagnosis, treatment and management. Methods The clinical data of 12 epileptic children comorbid with tic disorders treated in Wuhan children's Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from December, 2018 to June, 2021 was collected retrospectively. The clinical characteristics, EEG, MRI, treatment, prognosis of epileptic children comorbid with tic disorders were analyzed and summarized. Results There were 12 epileptic children comorbid with tic disorders in total, 11 males, 1 female, average (10.0±2.9) years old. The onset age of epilepsy was ranged from 0.6 to 11 years old, average (6.5±3.3) years old. The onset age of tic disorders ranged from 3.5 to 11 years old, average (7.2±2.0) years old. The epileptic seizure types included focal seisures (Focal, 8 cases), atypical absence seizures(AAS, 2 cases), myoclonic seizure (MS, 1 case), generalized tonic-clonic seisures (GTCS, 3 cases). The epileptic syndromes included benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECT, 2 cases), Dravet syndrome (1 case), juvenile myoclonic epilepsy(JME, 1 case), temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE, 1 case).The average oral antiepileptic seizure drug was 1, including lamotrigine(LTG), valproic acid(VPA), oxcarbazepine(OXC), levetiracetam(LEV), topiramate(TPM) and Perampanel. The clinical course of tic disorders ranged from 0.5 to 3.0 years, average (1.5±0.9) years. The clinical types included provisional tic disorder (PTD, 4 cases), chronic tic disorder (CTD, 5 cases, all of which were motor tics) and Tourette syndrome (TS, 3 cases). The severity of tic disorders was mild up to the last follow-up. In addition to tic disorders, other comorbidities included attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, 2 cases), 1 children was mixed type, 1 children was hyperactive impulse dominated type, psychomotor development disorder(3 cases), enuresis (1 case) and emotional disorder (1 case). There were interictal epileptiform discharges in 12 children with EEG, including focal discharges(7 cases, 1 EEG showed that focal discharges originated from the right temporal region), multiple discharges (5 cases, 1 EEG showed that multiple discharges originated from the right centro-temporal region), and clinical seizures were monitored in 6 cases (3 cases of focal seizures, 2 cases of atypical absence seizures, and 1 case of myoclonic seizure). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of head showed no obvious abnormalities. The follow-up time was ranged from 0.5 to 3.0 years. Up to the last follow-up (2022.01.01), 8 cases of epilepsy had been controlled and 4 cases of tic disorders were cured. The prognosis of epilepsy comorbid with tic disorders in most children was good. Conclusions The prognosis of epilepsy comorbid with tic disorders in most children is good, the types of epileptic seizures and epileptic syndromes are various. Prognosis of these chidren mainly depends on the control of epileptic seizures, the severity of tics and existence of other neuropsychiatric comorbidities. Therefore, drug treatment mainly focuses on controlling the epileptic seizures, and the impact of comorbidities on children can not be ignored. The clinical management needs regular follow-up, timely evaluation and corresponding interventions.

Citation： XIN Yingying, SUN Dan, LIU Zhisheng. Analysis of clinical features of epilepsy comorbid with tic disorders in children. Journal of Epilepsy, 2022, 8(3): 207-212. doi: 10.7507/2096-0247.202203004 Copy