title: Reflex periodic spasms induced by eating.
abstract: We report on two patients with reflex periodic spasms (PS) triggered by eating. Both patients also had significant cognitive and motor deficits. In both patients, reflex eating PS started during meal and occurred repeatedly at intervals of about 5-30 s, and the whole episode lasted about 10-15 min with 15-20 consecutive PS. Clinically, each PS was characterized by the trunk and head flexion, eyeball elevation, abduction of the upper limbs, and loss of consciousness. Ictal EEG recordings of PS revealed high-voltage sharp slow waves followed by a brief 1-2s voltage attenuation. Simultaneous EMG recording of right and left deltoid muscles revealed an abrupt increase of tone lasting 0.5-1.5s. In two patients, the origins of reflex PS were perirolandic suprasylvian and temporolimbic, respectively, because the first patient had focal epilepsy associated with cortical malformation including bilateral opercular dysplasia and the second one had cryptogenic temporal lobe epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurology, University Magna Graecia Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Labate
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Colosimo
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gambardella
authors.forename: Ugo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Leggio
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ambrosio
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Loi
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quattrone
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005502:Food / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012018:Reflex; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013035:Spasm / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior