What Is Occipital Epilepsy?
Occipital lobe epilepsy is clinically divided into two types: primary occipital lobe epilepsy and secondary occipital lobe epilepsy. The former is also known as benign occipital lobe epilepsy in children. It is more common in children aged 4 to 8 years. It has no cerebral organic damage and tends to heal itself. The latter is also called symptomatic occipital epilepsy, which is often secondary to congenital brain dysplasia, brain injury, cerebral hemorrhage, brain tumors, and cerebral parasitic diseases.
- Chinese name
- Occipital lobe epilepsy
- Foreign name
- Occipital lobe epilepsy
- Divide
- Primary and secondary types
- Common symptoms
- Eyeball deflection
- which performed
- Autonomic disorders including vomiting
- Treatment
- Valproate treatment
- Occipital lobe epilepsy is clinically divided into two types: primary occipital lobe epilepsy and secondary occipital lobe epilepsy. The former is also known as benign occipital lobe epilepsy in children. It is more common in children aged 4 to 8 years. It has no cerebral organic damage and tends to heal itself. The latter is also called symptomatic occipital epilepsy, which is often secondary to congenital brain dysplasia, brain injury, cerebral hemorrhage, brain tumors, and cerebral parasitic diseases.
Occipital lobe epilepsy
- Occipital lobe epilepsy is caused by abnormal discharge of the brain. The clinical symptoms of occipital lobe epilepsy are usually many.
- Occipital lobe epilepsy is manifested as a group of symptoms, including vomiting and other autonomic disorders, behavioral abnormalities, eyeball deflection, and disturbance of consciousness, etc., which can be followed by generalized seizures. Early onset can only manifest as autonomic symptoms such as paleness, sweating, with or without behavioral disorders. Eye deflection and vomiting occur in most attacks, but can be absent. A few cases have atypical seizures, such as glaring eyes, not deflected eyes, conscious discomfort, nausea or cough without vomiting, quiet without irritating, blushing but not pale. May be accompanied by urination, incontinence, and dilated pupils. Visual hallucinations, mouth and throat movements, and automatism do not generally occur.
- Eyeball deflection is one of the most common manifestations of this disease. It usually shows that the eyes are shifted to the limit of one side, and the head is shifted to the same side. Durations range from minutes to hours. The eyeball can continue to be tilted to one side, or it can be intermittently deflected. The deflected eyeball instantly returns to the centerline and deflected again soon. Often accompanied by a disturbance of consciousness. Other autonomic symptoms can be seen during the attack, such as bruising, diminished pupils, disturbances in circulation, breathing, and temperature regulation, hyper salivation, gastrointestinal disorders, headache or head discomfort. Paroxysmal syncope is seen in 1/5 of the onset of this disease, which can be the main manifestation of this disease, without other symptoms of seizures, can also be followed by generalized seizures.
Occipital lobe seizure type
- 1. Occipital lobe epilepsy syndrome
- Mainly manifested as simple partial seizures and secondary systemic seizures. If the brain's abnormal discharge spreads to areas outside the occipital lobe, it can cause complex partial seizures.
- 2. Complex partial seizures are mainly manifested as local paresthesia or clonic movement (spread to sensorimotor cortex), asymmetric postural rigidity (spread to frontal sMA), and complex structural visual hallucinations (spread to the junction of the temporomandibular junction Combined cortex), oropharyngeal or groping-like autism (spreading to the medial temporal lobe).
Occipital lobe epilepsy
- 1. Visual symptoms
- Mainly manifested as simple visual hallucinations and optical illusions, such as paroxysmal blind spots, hemi-blindness, darkening, or as sparks, flashes, light hallucinations and diplopia. Perceptual errors may also occur, such as changes in the size and distance of vision, tilting or deformation of objects. If the discharge spreads to the temporomandibular joint connection area, complex visual perception can occur, such as seeing the ever-changing and colorful scene, seeing the scene deformed or smaller, and occasionally seeing your own image (self-seeing illusion).
- 2. Non-visual symptoms
- It starts with tonic or clonic rotation of the eyes and head to the opposite side and eyeball rotation, followed by blinking, eyelid twitching and forced eye closure. Eye tremors or general tremors can also occur.
- 3 Epilepsy symptoms
- The discharge may spread to the temporal lobe and induce the symptoms of lateral posterior temporal seizures or the amygdaloid nucleus of the hippocampus. When the primary lesion is located in the superior talar fissure area, the discharge can extend forward to the convex or mesial surface of the upper lateral lateral fissure, similar to Onset of parietal or frontal lobe. Occasionally the discharge also quickly spread to the contralateral occipital lobe, becoming a secondary systemic attack.
Clinical diagnosis of occipital lobe epilepsy
- EEG examination:
- 1. Paroxysmal visual symptoms, non-visual symptoms of the eye, and diffuse symptoms are important criteria for diagnosing occipital lobe epilepsy.
- 2. Seizure EEG changes often show regional (often related to temporal and parietal lobes) rather than focal epileptic discharges.
- 3 Intracranial EEG records can confirm the origin of abnormal occipital discharge.
- CT and MRI examination: CT examination can find brain lesions, but for minor structural damage, especially for patients with focal cortical dysplasia, MRI examination can be done. MRI can detect focal thickening of the occipital cortex, ectopic gray matter, multiple cerebellar gyrus, enlarged occipital angle, scars, and structural damage such as tumors and vascular malformations.
Occipital lobe epilepsy treatment
- Children with benign occipital epilepsy are first treated with sodium valproate and most have a good prognosis. The treatment of secondary occipital lobe epilepsy can not be treated with biochip technology.