Tourette syndrome and epilepsy: a strange case of possible sudden unexpected death

Mechanisms of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) are incompletely understood in part because the overwhelming majority of patients are not undergoing video telemetry when they die. Described here is a patient with Tourette syndrome and epilepsy who displayed a dangerous compulsive tic resulting in carotid occlusions and seizures as captured on video telemetry monitoring. He was later found dead, raising the possibility of SUDEP. Possible mechanisms of SUDEP are discussed in light of video, EEG, ECG, epilepsy and tic behaviors.