Epileptic trances – focal motor epileptic seizures: past, present and a little bit of future

Abstract

This article provides a detailed description of clinical and electroanatomical characteristics of epilepsy in patients suffering from epileptic trances – a rare type of focal motor seizures with ambulatory automatism manifesting as an unplanned travel. We reviewed the currently available data on the nature of psychical seizures in patients with epilepsy and the role of social and legal expertise for this disease. We developed the criteria for differential diagnosis between epileptic trances and other conditions with similar manifestations (for example, epileptic fugues) and identified a diagnostic minimum. We also proposed a hypothesis of ictal spatial migration. We emphasized the efficiency of surgical treatment in the case of compliance with a proper diagnostic algorithm.

Keywords

• epilepsy
• temporal lobe epilepsy
• trances
• psychical seizures
• unplanned travel
• magnetic resonance imaging
• epilepsy surgery