Citation

Scévola L, D'Alessio L, Saferstein D, Centurión E, Consalvo D, Kochen S. Case Rep. Med. 2009; 2009(online): 712813.

Affiliation

Psychiatry Division, Ramos Mejía Hospital, Buenos Aires 1405, Argentina.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Hindawi Publishing)

DOI

10.1155/2009/712813

PMID

19859582

PMCID

PMC2766503

Abstract

Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs) are diagnosed when disruptive changes in behaviour, thinking, or emotion resemble epileptic seizures (ESs), but no paroxysmal discharges are seen on electroencephalogram (EEG) and do not originate from another medical illness. The gold standard for PNES diagnosis is video electroencephalogram (Video-EEG). PNESs are defined by modern psychiatry as conversion and dissociative disorders but these disorders may coexist with many others psychiatric disorders, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and personality disorders. It is well known that epileptic seizures are a frequent and well-studied complication of traumatic head injury (THI). However, THI may also generate psychic symptoms including PNES. In this paper we describe a patient who developed PNES after THI in a bus accident and received a diagnosis of refractory epilepsy for 24 years until she underwent Video-EEG.

Language: en