Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Brief Clinical Note

Ictal Gerstmann's syndrome in a patient with symptomatic parietal lobe epilepsy

Akihiro Shimotake, M.D.1), Youshi Fujita, M.D.1), Akio Ikeda, M.D.1), Hidekazu Tomimoto, M.D.1), Jun Takahashi, M.D.2) and Ryosuke Takahashi, M.D.1)

1)Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University
2)Department of Neurosurgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University

A 34-year-old man with astrocytoma in the left parietal lobe had symptomatic partial epilepsy, and he presented transient episodes of acalculia, agraphia and finger agnosia. Occasionally he had difficulty in finding appropriate letters when making an e-mail, and difficulty in writing and calculation. Neurological examinations revealed ictal symptoms of Gerstmann's syndrome without right to left disorientation. No other higher cortical dysfunction or neurological deficits were noted. Scalp EEGs showed frequent, regional ictal discharges in the left parietal area lasting for 60-240 seconds. These clinico-electrographical observations strongly support that epileptic seizures produced a loss of cortical higher function manifesting Gerstmann's syndrome.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (389K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 48: 208|210, 2008)
key words: partial epilepsy, Gerstmann's syndrome, parietal lobe, angular gyrus

(Received: 1-Aug-07)