title: Brain SPECT imaging of ictal smile seizure.
abstract: "Ictal smile" is defined as a facial expression during a seizure, which usually translates happiness, clearly distinct from a tonic deviation of the mouth or other abnormal tonic-clonic movements involving the face, not associated to any happiness emotion (Epilepsia. 1998;39:1357-1360). It is a rare condition (6%-10% of patients; Epilepsia. 1998;39:1357-1360) and seems to be related to seizures arising from temporal or frontal regions (Brain. 2003;126:2121-2138).Anecdotal reports of brain perfusion SPECT performed during ictal and interictal phases (Epilepsia. 1998;39:1357-1360) do not supply, unfortunately, imaging documentation. Thus, we report the first evidence of brain perfusion abnormalities induced by ictal smile seizure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Ospedali Riuniti, Foggia, Italy. sergiomodoni@tin.it
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Modoni
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Urbano
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trivisano
authors.forename: Maria Grazia
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Pascarella
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Orsi
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Di Claudio
authors.forename: Luigi M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Specchio
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012640:Seizures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012904:Smiling; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon