Nose wiping: an unrecognized automatism in absence seizures

Clin Electroencephalogr. 2000 Jul;31(3):157-9. doi: 10.1177/155005940003100310.

Abstract

Nose wiping is a well-known postictal automatism in complex partial seizures, considered very important for lateralization. We report a 24-year-old woman selected from 32 patients with video-EEG investigations of absence seizures. The patient, with normal examination and imaging findings, had typical absence seizures from the age of 5 years, which were controlled with either ethosuximide or valproate and worsened by carbamazepine. In two of her recorded typical absence seizures associated with generalized 3 Hz symmetric spike-wave discharges, she wiped her nose as an automatism in the ictal and post-ictal period. Our case showed that nose wiping could be associated with generalized seizures, in contrast to other recent reports.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Automatism / diagnosis*
  • Automatism / physiopathology
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Electroencephalography*
  • Epilepsy, Absence / diagnosis*
  • Epilepsy, Absence / physiopathology
  • Evoked Potentials / physiology
  • Female
  • Frontal Lobe / physiopathology
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Humans
  • Stereotyped Behavior / physiology*
  • Temporal Lobe / physiopathology
  • Theta Rhythm