Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Case Report

A case of epilepsy induced by eating or by visual stimuli of food made of minced meat

Naoya Mimura, M.D.1), Takeshi Inoue, M.D.1), Akihiro Shimotake, M.D., Ph.D.2), Riki Matsumoto, M.D., Ph.D.1), Akio Ikeda, M.D., Ph.D.2) and Ryosuke Takahashi, M.D., Ph.D.1)

1)Department of Neurology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine
2)Department of Epilepsy, Movement Disorders and Physiology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine

We report a 34-year-old woman with eating epilepsy induced not only by eating but also seeing foods made of minced meat. In her early 20s of age, she started having simple partial seizures (SPS) as flashback and epigastric discomfort induced by particular foods. When she was 33 years old, she developed SPS, followed by secondarily generalized tonicclonic seizure (sGTCS) provoked by eating a hot dog, and 6 months later, only seeing the video of dumpling. We performed video electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring while she was seeing the video of soup dumpling, which most likely caused sGTCS. Ictal EEG showed rhythmic theta activity in the left frontal to mid-temporal area, followed by generalized seizure pattern. In this patient, seizures were provoked not only by eating particular foods but also by seeing these. This suggests a form of epilepsy involving visual stimuli.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (1807K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 57: 430|435, 2017)
key words: eating epilepsy, reflex epilepsy, system epilepsy, visual stimuli, déjà vu

(Received: 14-Feb-17)