We used 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) to study nine patients with clinical absence or generalized seizures. One patient had only absence seizures, two had only generalized tonic-clonic seizures, and six had both seizure types. Interictal scans in eight failed to reveal focal or lateralized hypometabolism. No apparent abnormalities were noted. Two patients had PET scans after isotope injection during hyperventilation-induced generalized spike-wave discharges. Diffusely increased metabolic rates were found in one compared with an interictal scan, and in another compared with control values. Another patient had FDG injected during absence status: EEG showed generalized spike-wave discharges (during which she was unresponsive) intermixed with slow activity accompanied by confusion. Metabolic rates were decreased, compared with the interictal scan, throughout both cortical and subcortical structures. Interictal PET did not detect specific anatomic regions responsible for absence seizure onset in any patient, but the results of the ictal scans did suggest that pathophysiologic differences exist between absence status and single absence attacks.