[Vomiting as a symptom of epilepsy. Panayitopoulos Syndrome - review of the literature and own experience].

Vomiting is a common sign of illness in the pediatric population. Its etiology is diversified, ranging from mild functional disorders to severe life-threatening systemic diseases. Vomiting most often occurs in the course of gastrointestinal tract diseases, however, it may also coexist with numerous other ailments located outside the GI tract. Due to its diverse etiology encompassing various systems and organs, it can sometimes cause diagnostic difficulties. The present paper illustrates a case of Panayiotopoulos syndrome, which is an early-onset childhood occipital epilepsy (EOCOE). Characteristic of this syndrome are seizures with symptoms originating from the autonomic nervous system or the occurrence of vegetative status epilepticus. The dominant signs and symptoms are vomiting and nausea, which in the first place most frequently suggest inflammation of the stomach or intestines, migraine, or a proliferative process in the central nervous system. Rarely is the possibility of vomiting taken into account as an element of epileptic seizure in the differential diagnosis. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the difficulty in defining the precise cause of recurrent vomiting. Many times, despite collecting a detailed medical history and extensive physical examination, it is only observation-based diagnosis that allows the doctor to make a final evaluation.