A woman in her sixties with epilepsy and syncope

A woman in her sixties had been diagnosed with generalised epilepsy twenty years earlier. The diagnosis was confirmed by EEG, and an MRI scan revealed hippocampal sclerosis, which is not uncommon in patients with epilepsy. Treatment with carbamazepine was initiated.

Due to a rise in the patient's cholesterol, carbamazepine was replaced with oxcarbazepine. At a follow-up, the patient reported a recent episode with loss of consciousness. Unstable epilepsy was suspected and the oxcarbazepine dose increased. The patient had had a minor stroke shortly before the check-up. As part of the diagnostic workup, a 24-hour ECG was performed. On removal of the apparatus, the patient described an episode with loss of consciousness that same morning. The ECG showed asystole at that point in time due to total AV block. A pacemaker was implanted, and the patient has had no episodes since.

The patient retrospectively reported recurrent episodes with loss of consciousness over many years. The diagnosis of epilepsy was convincing, but was the heart condition linked to her epilepsy, her medication or was it a separate entity? When seizures become more frequent or change character in a previously stabilised patient with epilepsy, it is important to look for non-epileptic causes, and cardiac arrhythmias should be high on the list.