Neurologists have long sought to understand what precipitates individual seizures in epileptic patients. Studies of reflex epilepsies seem well suited to this task. In this issue of Neuron, Skradski et al. describe a mutation in a novel gene underlying audiogenic seizures in the Frings mouse, providing a valuable resource for elucidating the pathophysiological mechanisms of this inherited form ...

A patient who had complex partial seizures provoked by bathing is reported. All the attacks occurred during or immediately after bathing, irrespective of water temperature. The semiology was suggestive of a seizure focus in the mesial temporal lobe. Though there are some similarities with hot-water epilepsy, this case appears to be a distinct type of reflex epilepsy.

Dravet syndrome (DS) is a severe epilepsy syndrome characterized by early onset of multiple types of seizures. We report the first case of reflex seizures triggered by diaper change in a girl at 9 months old and 2 years old with a mutation in the SCN1A gene causing DS. Reflex seizures have been reported in patients with DS provoked by increased body temperature or visual stimulation. The case w...

BACKGROUND Reading epilepsy is a rare form of epilepsy, classified among idiopathic, age- and localisation-related (partial) epilepsies as a reflex epilepsy syndrome. Seizures usually consist of myoclonic jerks restricted to the jaw. However, distinct ictal features including visual symptoms and paroxysmal a- or dyslexia are described in some patients. The anatomical substrate of ictogenesis in...

A six-year-old Moroccan boy experienced nausea, paleness and oral automatisms after almost every shower. A clinical diagnosis of bathing epilepsy was assumed. A video-EEG recording was taken during and after a shower and confirmed ictal high voltage repetitive slow waves over the left temporal lobe. Bathing epilepsy or water immersion epilepsy is a rare form of reflex epilepsy often presenting ...

PURPOSE Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a heterogeneous syndrome in which seizures can be precipitated not only by non-specific factors, such as sleep deprivation and stress, but also by specific stimuli, such as photic stimuli, eye-closure, praxis, and language. The presence of these reflex traits may indicate the hyperexcitability of different cortical areas, which may be reflected in pa...

We report a 41-year-old woman with complex reflex epilepsy in which seizures were induced exclusively by the act of tooth brushing. All the attacks occurred with a specific sensation of sexual arousal and orgasm-like euphoria that were followed by a period of impairment of consciousness. Ictal EEG demonstrated two events of epileptic seizure that were provoked after tooth brushing for 38 and 14...