Localized Pain Associated with Seizures Originating in the Parietal Lobe

Purpose: Ictal pain is a rare symptom of seizures. Epileptic pain may be experienced unilaterally (lateral/peripheral), cephalically, or in the abdomen. Painful seizures have been associated with seizure origin in both the parietal and the temporal lobes. We report on the different types of epilepti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epilepsia (Copenhagen) 1999-07, Vol.40 (7), p.845-855
Main Authors: Siegel, Adrian M., Williamson, Peter D., Roberts, David W., Thadani, Vijay M., Darcey, Terrance M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdominal Pain - diagnosis
Abdominal Pain - physiopathology
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Epilepsy
Epilepsy - diagnosis
Epilepsy - diagnostic imaging
Epilepsy - physiopathology
Epilepsy surgery
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Headache - diagnosis
Headache - physiopathology
Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Neurology
Pain - diagnosis
Pain - physiopathology
Painful epileptic seizures
Parietal Lobe - diagnostic imaging
Parietal Lobe - physiopathology
Parietal lobe epilepsy
Somatosensory seizures
Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose: Ictal pain is a rare symptom of seizures. Epileptic pain may be experienced unilaterally (lateral/peripheral), cephalically, or in the abdomen. Painful seizures have been associated with seizure origin in both the parietal and the temporal lobes. We report on the different types of epileptic pain and discuss its etiology and possible localizing value. Methods: We reviewed the records of patients referred to our epilepsy program over the last 6 years. Eight (1.4%) of 573 patients had pain as an early prominent symptom of their seizures. Results: Pain was predominantly unilateral in three patients, cephalic in two, and abdominal in three patients. Seizure onset was in or involving the parietal lobe in all patients, and when the painful symptoms were lateralized, they were contralateral to the side of seizure origin. Parietal lobe seizure origin was determined by both intracranial EEG recording and neuroimaging [magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ictal single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)] in five patients, and by both scalp EEG and neuroimaging in three patients. Conclusions: We conclude that ictal pain is a rare symptom of parietal lobe seizure origin with lateralizing potential.
ISSN:0013-9580
1528-1167
DOI:10.1111/j.1528-1157.1999.tb00790.x