title: Unilateral autoscopic phenomena as a lateralizing sign in focal epilepsy.
abstract: Positive autoscopic phenomena - autoscopy, heautoscopy and out-of-body experience - may occur in a variety of diseases and also in physiological conditions. They are a rare but probably underreported phenomenon in focal epilepsies. Here, we investigate whether ictal lateralized autoscopic phenomena give lateralizing information about the underlying epileptic focus. We present the cases of seven patients from our center who experienced ictal lateralized autoscopic phenomena and analyzed their focus lateralization and localization of the underlying brain lesion. In addition, we reviewed seven cases published in German and English language literature. In the total group of 14 patients with ictal lateralized autoscopic phenomena, 12 (85.7%) of them had a well-defined epileptic focus contralateral to the side of the autoscopic appearance. Therefore, the data point to an association between ictal lateralized autoscopy and contralateral epileptic focus.
authors.affiliation: Bethel Epilepsy Centre, Mara Hospital, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hoepner
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Labudda
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoppe
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schoendienst
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomka-Hoffmeister
authors.forename: Friedrich G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Woermann
authors.forename: Alois
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ebner
authors.forename: Christian G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Bien
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brandt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult