Unilateral autoscopic phenomena as a lateralizing sign in focal epilepsy.
Robert Hoepner, Kirsten Labudda, Matthias Hoppe, Martin Schoendienst, Reinhard Schulz, Maria Tomka-Hoffmeister, Friedrich G Woermann, Alois Ebner, Christian G Bien, Christian Brandt
Epilepsy & Behavior March 1, 2012 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2012.01.010 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case series with literature review Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 14 |
| Population | Patients with focal epilepsy and ictal lateralized autoscopic phenomena |
| Key findings | 85.7% of patients with ictal lateralized autoscopic phenomena had an epileptic focus contralateral to the side of the autoscopic appearance. |
Abstract
Positive autoscopic phenomena - autoscopy, heautoscopy and out-of-body experience - may occur in a variety of diseases and also in physiological conditions. They are a rare but probably underreported phenomenon in focal epilepsies. Here, we investigate whether ictal lateralized autoscopic phenomena give lateralizing information about the underlying epileptic focus. We present the cases of seven patients from our center who experienced ictal lateralized autoscopic phenomena and analyzed their focus lateralization and localization of the underlying brain lesion. In addition, we reviewed seven cases published in German and English language literature. In the total group of 14 patients with ictal lateralized autoscopic phenomena, 12 (85.7%) of them had a well-defined epileptic focus contralateral to the side of the autoscopic appearance. Therefore, the data point to an association between ictal lateralized autoscopy and contralateral epileptic focus.
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