Objective: this publication aims at reviewing one of the most important problems faced by the pediatrician in the field of child neurology. The paroxistic non-epileptic events are also a frequent reason for pediatric neurology consultations and admission for diagnostic video-eletroencephalogram monitoring. Methods: literature review on the subject was perform on Medline, data was also collected from the main Pediatric Neurology Textbooks, which were found to be important and unique source of information on the subject. Results: many of entities discussed in this paper are very common in the pediatric population like syncope, breath-holding spells and the movement disorders associated with gastroesophageal reflux. Other syndromes are less frequent such as the pararoxymal dystonias and the Segawa Syndrome (dystonia with diurnal variation). Conclusions: the basic knowledge of these syndromes is very important since it may avoid unnecessary procedures and the wrongful diagnosis of epilepsy. Patients who are mistakenly diagnosed as epileptics are exposed to anti-convulsant medications, which are probably not going to be effective and may expose them to the risk of side effects.
epilepsy; convulsions; seizures; paroxystic non-epileptic events; syncope; movement disorder; tetany; hyperekplexia; vertigo
