J Korean Epilepsy Soc.  2001 Jun;5(1):75-78.

A Case of Status Epilepticus Amauroticus

• Lee YH
• Kim NG
• Kwon OY
• Park KJ
• Choi NC
• Lim BH

Abstract

Ictal blindness is a deficient symptomatology of partial seizure arising from visual cortex and usually short lived. When the blindness is the initial semiology of seizures, epileptic discharge arising from the primary visual cortex is associated. Ictal blindness has been reported in many patients with occipital lobe epilepsy, but prolonged ictal blindness called status epilepticus amauroticus has been reported only in few patients. We report a 45-year-old woman who had suffered prolonged epileptic blindness. The epileptic blindness was accompanied with rapid eyelid blinking and upward turning of head and eyeballs. Motor seizure and mental changes were not occurred. Ictal EEG showed 11-13 Hz repetitive spikes on the right occipital area followed by propagation to ipsilateral temporal area and contralateral occipital area. On T2-weighted MRI, abnormal lesions with high signal intensity were noted within bilateral occipital areas. She had been improved dramatically by loading dose of intravenous phenytoin.

Keyword

Ictal blindness; Status epilepticus amauroticus; Occipital lobe epilepsy; Ictal EEG

MeSH Terms

Blindness
Blinking
Electroencephalography
Epilepsies, Partial
Epilepsy
Eyelids
Female
Head
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Middle Aged
Phenytoin
Seizures
Status Epilepticus*
Visual Cortex
Phenytoin