A Review of Hyperventilation Activation in Diagnosis and Management of Childhood Absence Epilepsy.

This article focuses on the role of hyperventilation as a diagnostic and management tool in childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), a common pediatric epilepsy syndrome characterized by brief absence seizures. CAE diagnosis relies on clinical history, physical examination including hyperventilation, and electroencephalography (EEG) confirmation, with hyperventilation provoking typical seizures in over 90% of drug-naive patients. While EEG remains central to diagnosis and treatment monitoring, its use for management is variable and resource-intensive, leading to interest in hyperventilation as a low-cost, accessible adjunct that could improve referral efficiency and treatment assessment, especially if adopted by pediatricians. The article also discusses safety considerations, differential diagnosis including hyperventilation-induced high-amplitude rhythmic slowing, and the need for standardized protocols and further research to optimize hyperventilation’s clinical utility in CAE.