Neurology
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Correspondence:
Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when Correspondence are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Montavont, A.
Right arrow Articles by Ryvlin, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Montavont, A.
Right arrow Articles by Ryvlin, P.
Related Collections
Right arrow Epilepsy semiology
Right arrow Intracranial electrodes
Right arrow Epilepsy surgery
Right arrow Video/ EEG use in epilepsy
Right arrow Cortical localization
NEUROLOGY 2008;71:1579-1585
© 2008 American Academy of Neurology

Foreign language ictal speech automatisms in nondominant temporal lobe epilepsy

Alexandra Montavont, MD, Philippe Kahane, MD, PhD, Marc Guenot, MD, PhD and Philippe Ryvlin, MD, PhD

From the Departments of Functional Neurology and Epileptology (A.M., P.R.) and Neurosurgery (M.G.), Neurological Hospital, Hospices Civils de Lyon; CTRS-IDEE (A.M., P.K., P.R.), Hospices Civils de Lyon and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1; Epilepsy Unit (P.K.), Neurology & Psychiatry Department, Grenoble Hospital; and INSERM U821 (P.R.), France.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Professor Philippe Ryvlin, Department of Functional Neurology and Epileptology, Neurological Hospital, 59 Bd Pinel, 69003 Lyon, France ryvlin{at}cermep.fr

Background: Foreign language ictal speech automatism (FLISA) is a rare ictal sign that has been hitherto reported in five unilingual patients, all right handed men with right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), only one of whom has benefited from an intracerebral EEG investigation.

Methods: We report three unilingual French patients who consistently presented English spoken ictal speech automatisms and were investigated with intracerebral EEG recordings.

Results: All three patients were right-handed men with nondominant TLE originating in the right amygdala. However, FLISA only occurred when the ictal EEG discharge spread to the ipsilateral temporal neocortex or frontal operculum. In addition, FLISA were emotionally salient, referring to the patient’s parents or to the intensity of the ongoing seizure.

Conclusion: Our findings, together with previously published data, suggest that foreign language ictal speech automatisms are more likely to occur in men with nondominant amygdala onset seizures, an observation that might reflect the sexual dimorphism observed in the right amygdala during emotional processing.

Abbreviations: FDG-PET = [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose-PET; FLISA = foreign language ictal speech automatism; ISA = ictal speech automatisms; SEEG = stereotactic electroencephalography; TLE = temporal lobe epilepsy.

Disclosure: The authors report no disclosures.

Received May 8, 2008. Accepted in final form August 6, 2008.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2008 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.