[A case series of 4 epilepsy patients with promnesia]

Promnesia is a feeling of familiarity and foreknowledge and is a manifestation of simple partial seizures (focal aware seizures). It is similar to déjà vu and has been reported to be a rare symptom in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Here, we investigated the clinical characteristics in 4 patients with partial epilepsy presenting promnesia. Three out of 4 patients showed abnormal electroencephalography (EEG) and/or MRI findings in the temporal lobe. Furthermore, in 2 patients, promnesia was the only aura. It is important to actively obtain medical history of patients about promnesia because this is useful for identifying the epileptic focus. Further cases need to be analyzed to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of promnesia for diagnosis and therapy of partial epilepsy.