Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2016

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed. It is the authors' final version prior to publication in Epilepsy and Behavior

Volume 64, November 2016, Pages 1-3.

The published version is available at DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2016.09.010. Copyright © Elsevier

Abstract

PURPOSE: We classified patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs) according to a newly proposed classification system. Then, we investigated the demographic and clinical differences between various classes of the patients.

METHODS: We retrospectively investigated all patients with PNESs admitted to the Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center from 2012 through 2016. We classified the patients into four distinct classes: patients with generalized motor seizures, patients with akinetic seizures, patients with focal motor seizures, and patients with seizures with subjective symptoms. All patients were interviewed by a neuropsychologist and were administered psychological assessment measures, including questions about PNES risk factors. For the statistical analyses, we compared patients who had generalized motor seizures with patients who had nonmotor seizures.

RESULTS: Sixty-three patients were studied. Thirty-five (55.6%) patients had generalized motor seizures, 14 (22.2%) had seizures with subjective symptoms, 12 (19%) had akinetic seizures, and two (3.2%) patients had focal motor seizures. Patients with generalized motor seizures (35 patients) demonstrated a trend for later age at onset (p=0.06), more frequently had a history of substance abuse (p=0.001), and more often had loss of responsiveness with their seizures (p=0.04) compared with patients who had nonmotor seizures (26 patients).

CONCLUSION: The recently proposed PNES classification system is useful and practical. This proposed classification of PNESs may address proper diagnosis and provide standardization across future studies. This may also potentially shed light on the etiologic understanding and management of various classes of patients affected with PNESs.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

PubMed ID

27723495

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