Épilepsie de la télévision: existe-t-elle encore?

In the 1960s, TV was recognized as a trigger of visually induced seizures in photosensitive patients (due especially to the lack of stability of pictures with the old B/W screens, and to the short distance to the screen). Sensitivity to colour TV appeared somewhat later and does not seem to differ from that to B/W screens. The marketing of new, bigger TV screens (LCD, TFT and plasma), with 100 Hz frequency, and variable technical specifications (including colour scales and luminance) should decrease the risk of inducing seizures in photosensitive patients, as the increasingly complex epileptogenic features (colours and patterns) contained in advertisements, programs and games, can be manipulated. However, recent studies have shown the higher sensitivity of younger children to TV images, especially when associated with videogames that imply a greater, active participation. In our modern world, children and teenagers are increasingly exposed to potentially epileptogenic visual stimuli or various origins, and it can be expected that more and younger children will experience seizures in front of their TV in the coming years. Although the visual inducing factor is still TV, it is the association of TV and videogames that accounts for TV-induced seizures.