Epilepsy & Behavior Reports (Jan 2023)

Towel induced reflex seizures

  • Eimear Joyce,
  • William Doyle,
  • Evan Quirke,
  • Tudor Munteanu,
  • Norman Delanty

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 21
p. 100591

Abstract

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Reflex epilepsies are a unique and heterogeneous group of epilepsies characterized by recurrent seizure activity evoked by a specific external sensory stimulus or internal cognitive process. Reflex seizures can be part of other epilepsy syndromes including focal and generalized syndromes and have a growing spectrum of presentations. We report a further subtype of reflex seizures associated with towel exposure.We give an account of a case of drug-refractory focal epilepsy admitted to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit for presurgical assessment with 50% of seizures triggered in response to the touch, feel, smell and thoughts around towels. We reviewed the literature regarding the broad phenotype of reflex epilepsies and seizures.

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