Abdominal epilepsy

Abdominal epilepsy
Classification and external resources
ICD-9 345.5
MeSH D004828

Abdominal epilepsy is a rare condition consisting of gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances caused by epileptiform seizure activity. While a causal relationship between seizure activity and the GI symptoms has not been proven, the GI symptoms cannot be explained by other pathophysiological mechanisms, and are seen to improve upon anticonvulsant treatment.

Abdominal epilepsy can be a rare cause of recurrent abdominal pain.[1][2][3][4][5] It has been described as a type of temporal lobe epilepsy.[6] Responsiveness to anticonvulsants can aid in the diagnosis.[7]

Incidence

While reliable estimates of incidence are lacking, abdominal epilepsy is considered to be a very rare condition. Most published medical literature dealing with abdominal epilepsy is in the form of individual case reports. A 2005 review article found a total of 36 cases described in the medical literature.[3]

History

Trousseau is commonly credited as the first to describe the condition in 1868 in a boy with paroxysmal GI symptoms culminating in grand mal epileptic seizures.

The first account of abdominal epilepsy supported by EEG tracings came in 1944 in an article by M.T. Moore, followed by subsequent case reports from the same group.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ Dutta SR, Hazarika I, Chakravarty BP (March 2007). "Abdominal epilepsy, an uncommon cause of recurrent abdominal pain: a brief report". Gut 56 (3): 439–41. doi:10.1136/gut.2006.094250. PMC 1856820. PMID 17339252. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1856820. 
  2. ^ Eschle D, Siegel AM, Wieser HG (December 2002). "Epilepsy with severe abdominal pain". Mayo Clin. Proc. 77 (12): 1358–60. doi:10.4065/77.12.1358. PMID 12479525. 
  3. ^ a b Zinkin NT, Peppercorn MA (April 2005). "Abdominal epilepsy". Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol 19 (2): 263–74. doi:10.1016/j.bpg.2004.10.001. PMID 15833692. 
  4. ^ Levendorf M (January 2000). "Chronic abdominal pain and abdominal epilepsy". Am Fam Physician 61 (1): 50. PMID 10643951. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000101/letters.html. 
  5. ^ Peppercorn MA, Herzog AG (October 1989). "The spectrum of abdominal epilepsy in adults". Am. J. Gastroenterol. 84 (10): 1294–6. PMID 2801681. 
  6. ^ Topno N, Gopasetty MS, Kudva A, B L (December 2005). "Abdominal epilepsy and foreign body in the abdomen--dilemma in diagnosis of abdominal pain". Yonsei Med. J. 46 (6): 870–3. doi:10.3349/ymj.2005.46.6.870. PMC 2810606. PMID 16385668. http://www.eymj.org/abstracts/viewArticle.asp?year=2005&page=870. 
  7. ^ Singhi PD, Kaur S (April 1988). "Abdominal epilepsy misdiagnosed as psychogenic pain". Postgrad Med J 64 (750): 281–2. doi:10.1136/pgmj.64.750.281. PMC 2428499. PMID 3186570. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2428499. 
  8. ^ M.T. Moore, "Paroxysmal abdominal pain: a form of focal symptomatic epilepsy", JAMA.1944 124 561-563
  9. ^ MOORE MT (July 1950). "Abdominal epilepsy versus "abdominal migraine"". Ann. Intern. Med. 33 (1): 122–33. PMID 15426097. 
Basics
Treatments
Antiepileptics · Template:Anticonvulsants (for list) · Electroencephalography (diagnosis method) · Epileptologist
Related disorders
Epilepsy organizations
Issues for epileptics
Seizure types
Epilepsy types
Partial/focal
Generalised
Status epilepticus
Myoclonic epilepsy
Non-epileptic seizures

M: CNS

anat(n/s/m/p/4/e/b/d/c/a/f/l/g)/phys/devp

noco(m/d/e/h/v/s)/cong/tumr, sysi/epon, injr

proc, drug(N1A/2AB/C/3/4/7A/B/C/D)