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We investigated the possibility of differential diagnosis of patients with epileptic seizures (ES) and patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) through an advanced analysis of the dynamics of the patients' scalp EEGs. The underlying principle was the presence of resetting of brain's preictal spatiotemporal entrainment following onset of ES and the absence of resetting following PNES. Long-term (days) scalp EEGs recorded from five patients with ES and six patients with PNES were analyzed. It was found that: (1) Preictal entrainment of brain sites was reset at ES (P<0.05) in four of the five patients with ES, and not reset (P=0.28) in the fifth patient. (2) Resetting did not occur (p>0.1) in any of the six patients with PNES. These preliminary results in patients with ES are in agreement with our previous findings from intracranial EEG recordings on resetting of brain dynamics by ES and are expected to constitute the basis for the development of a reliable and supporting tool in the differential diagnosis between ES and PNES. Finally, we believe that these results shed light on the electrophysiology of PNES by showing that occurrence of PNES does not assist patients in overcoming a pathological entrainment of brain dynamics. This article is part of a Supplemental Special Issue entitled The Future of Automated Seizure Detection and Prediction., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Summary: Seizures can cause airway compromise and aspiration. This is a potential concern during inpatient video-EEG monitoring (vEEG), where seizures are provoked for diagnostic purposes. The frequency of aspiration and efficacy of nursing interventions to protect the airway were evaluated in this retrospective study of 590 partial complex (PC) and generalized tonic clonic (GTC) seizures recording during vEEG. 33 seizures (5.6%) occurred while patients were eating or drinking, 14 with food in the mouth at onset. 4 (0.6%) were followed by post-ictal emesis. Supplemental oxygen was provided in 93% of GTC seizures, and oral suctioning in 85%. Lateral decubitus positioning was used in 53%. These interventions were applied in a minority of PC seizures. There were no choking events, one suspected aspiration without subsequent complication, and no aspiration pneumonia. It is uncertain if interventions such as oral suctioning, lateral decubitus positioning, or oxygen administration reduce the risk of aspiration during vEEG. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Epilepsy is a common disorder that may be caused by wide ranging etiologies. Historically a significant number of people with epilepsy have idiopathic epilepsy without a definitive etiology. More recently, auto-antibodies have been discovered to be associated with numerous conditions affecting the nervous system, including epilepsy. With this increased understanding of the potential for immune-based etiologies for epilepsy it is important to recognize the associated EEG patterns in such cases. This report presents the EEG findings in epilepsy patients with one or more auto-antibodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]