TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Pitfalls in diagnosing psychogenic nonepileptic seizures in a sexually abused child
JO  - Brain and development
A1  - Nagamitsu, Shinichiro
A1  - Yamashita, Yushiro
A1  - Ohya, Takashi
A1  - Shibuya, Ikuhiko
A1  - Komatsu, Hiroko
A1  - Matsuoka, Michiko
A1  - Ohzono, Shuichi
A1  - Matsuishi, Toyojiro
SP  - 601
EP  - 603
VL  - 33
IS  - 7
N2  - A six-year-old girl living in a residential care facility because of previous sexual abuse at home showed intractable seizures with epileptic discharges on interictal EEG. The features of the attacks were sudden impaired consciousness, only in daytime while eating, studying, and walking, with no motor acts and continuing for several minutes to one hour. She could not recall the attacks, and anticonvulsants showed no effects. She gradually became irritated and antisocial, exhibiting impulsive and hyperactive behavior. Interictal EEG repeatedly showed diffuse irregular spikes and wave complexes. The attacks continued sporadically for more than two years and ceased after disclosure of repeated sexual abuse by a boy at the residential care facility. In this case, delayed diagnosis of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures was associated with diagnostic difficulty of dissociative symptoms in a child, the presence of epileptiform EEG in an abused child, and undetected sexual abuse in a residential care facility, the potential for which pediatric neurologists should be aware. These pitfalls are discussed in the context of previous related literature.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0387-7604
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.braindev.2010.10.001
ID  - ref1
ER  -