Nonconvulsive focal inhibitory seizure: subdural recording from motor cortex

The authors obtained an ictal electrocorticogram with chronically implanted subdural electrodes from a 30-year-old man with a low grade glioma in the right postcentral gyrus who had a focal inhibitory seizure of the left arm. During the ictal paresis, the authors observed epileptic discharges in the positive arm motor area of the right precentral gyrus and in its rostral area, but not in the negative motor area. The epileptic activity probably inhibited the spinal motoneuron pool without eliciting excitatory activity in the corticospinal pathway.