Seizures strike some video gamesters.

Now that vide games have moved into most U.S. homes and become a daily pastime of many kids, parents have a new disorder to fret over, a recent study suggests.

Among the vast number of video game enthusiasts exists a small group--mostly children--whose brains become overcharged by the experience, causing them to suffer epileptic seizures. A study in the April PEDIATRICS Indicates that such reactions occur more frequently than previously thought, though exactly how often remains unknown.

"It seems likely that playing or watching [video games] does not cause normal persons to develop a seizure disorder but only unmasks a peculiar proclivity of the brains of certain individuals," write William D. Graf and his colleagues at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. They report on 35 video game-related seizure (VGRS) patients, age 1 to 36. Teenage boys make up most of the group. Ten are the authors' patients; the others were described in medical reports dating back to 1981.

Many VGRS patients don't require medication and should simply stay away from video parlors, the authors conclude. "We wanted to tell physicians not to overreact" in treating these kids, Graf says. Such episodes don't usually damage the brain.

Physicians had assumed that only people with unusual electroencephalograms (EEGs) in response to flashing lights are candidates for VGRS, notes Edward J. Hart of North Shore Children's Hospital in Salem, Mass. "That is what I had been telling my patients," he says.

But the new report shows that some of the 35 patients only suffer seizures in response to the games and are not overly sensitive to light. "What we thought was a test [for VGRS] did not seem to hold," Hart says. "That to me is a pretty interest finding."

Some of the patients may have a rare disorder called reflex epilepsy, in which an unusual stimulus such as a video game or a voice (SN: 7/20/91, p.45) may set off a seizure, agrees Marc R. Nuwer of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine. Or it could be just coincidence that someone has an episode while playing on such a machine, he argues. But he adds that VGRS usually results from a sensitivity to light.

The Seattle scientists disagree with the coincidence theory. They point out that prior to having a VGRS, most of the patients--27--had never suffered a seizure.

All the patients appeared normal on neurological examinations and computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging scans. However, some had abnormal EEG readings, suggesting that their brains produce excessive electrical activity in areas that help process light, the researchers say. Also, 17 of 32 people tested had abnormal EEG readings when the researchers flashed a light in their eyes, which indicates light sensitivity.

The most common type of seizure striking video game lovers is a tonic-clonic seizure, once known as a grand mal, which causes people to become stiff and then shake, says Graf. VGRS patients also have simple partial seizures and absences, formerly called petit mals and characterized by seconds-long lapses in s consciousness (SN: 7/25/92, p.54).

Patients who remained free of seizures during a 3-year follow-up included 11 of the 15 patients abstaining from video games, 3 of the 6 receiving anticonvulsants but continuing to play, and 7 of the 12 abstaining from the game and taking medication.

Not all the patients took part in the games themselves--three suffered an attack while someone else was playing. The youngest patient in the study, a 1-year-old, had a VGRS while sitting next to her big brother.