Frontal Lobe Epilepsy Differential Diagnoses

Updated: Sep 25, 2018
  • Author: Jillian L Rosengard, MD; Chief Editor: Selim R Benbadis, MD  more...
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DDx

Diagnostic Considerations

Patients with frontal lobe seizures may present with a clear epileptic syndrome or with unusual behavioral or motor manifestations that are not immediately recognizable as seizures. [11, 12]

As previously mentioned, it is difficult to distinguish frontal lobe seizures from nonepileptic events based on history alone, and patients with frontal lobe epilepsy may be misdiagnosed as having psychogenic nonepileptic events.

Even with continuous video EEG, it can be difficult to diagnose frontal lobe seizures as they can be surface negative or obscured by muscle artifact. In addition, interictal epileptiform discharges may be very rare.

Differential Diagnoses