Gelastic Epilepsy. Onset in neonatal period.

The phenomenon of gelastic epilepsy was first described in 1873, yet fewer than 100 patients with this disorder have been reported on to date. The purpose of this article is to report on the first two patients to our knowledge with the onset of these seizures in the immediate neonatal period. Both patients have been shown to have posterior hypothalamic mass lesions presumably of congenital origin, and have remained free of neurologic progression of the disease with conservative treatment.