Ictal apnea of epileptic origin

Tezer FI, Rémi J, and Noachtar S (2009) Ictal apnea of epileptic origin. Neurology 72:9 855–7.

Link to Article

First Paragraph: Epileptic seizures may be associated with changes of autonomic functions such as cardiac rhythm or breathing. Diagnostic problems may occur if only autonomic symptoms represent the epileptic seizure manifestation. Autonomic seizures such as ictal tachycardia have a high localizing value for seizure onset in the temporal region. In this report, we present two patients in whom the epileptic origin of central apnea could be established with ictal polygraphic EEG video recordings.

Context

• Report of two patients with recurrent ictal apnea. In one case depth electrodes localized seizures to the right temporal region, in the other the patient had suffered a stroke of the right paracentral region. Multiple brief seizures and apneic periods occurred nearly simultaneously during sleep.