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Ictal emotional expressions of children with partial epilepsy

András Fogarasi1, József Janszky, Ingrid Tuxhorn

  • 1Bethel Epilepsy Center, Bielefeld, Germany. fogarasi@bethesda.hu

Epilepsia
|January 24, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Ictal emotional expressions (EEs) in children are common and differ from adults. Positive EEs indicate extratemporal or right-sided seizure origins, unlike negative EEs.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Epilepsy Research
  • Clinical Neurophysiology

Background:

  • Ictal emotional expressions (EEs) are observed in epilepsy.
  • Previous studies primarily focused on adult populations.
  • Understanding EEs in children is crucial for accurate localization.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the lateralizing and localizing value of ictal emotional expressions (EEs) in children.
  • To compare these findings with existing adult epilepsy studies.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic analysis of 514 seizures from 100 children (<=12 years) with partial epilepsy.
  • Video recordings reviewed by blinded investigators.
  • Categorization of EEs into positive (smile, happiness, laughing) and negative (fear, crying, pain) groups.

Main Results:

  • Emotional expressions occurred in 35% of pediatric patients.
  • EEs were more frequent in extratemporal (49%) than temporal (26%) lobe seizures.
  • Positive EEs showed extratemporal dominance and right-sided lateralization; negative EEs did not localize or lateralize.

Conclusions:

  • Ictal emotional expressions are frequent in childhood epilepsy.
  • Their localizing and lateralizing properties differ significantly from those observed in adults.
  • This study provides novel insights into pediatric epilepsy localization.
Abstract

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