Eating-induced seizure
Eating-induced seizures (EIS) are a rare form of reflex epilepsy.
The objective of a study by Tena-Cucala et al. was to report a series of cases of EIS involving patients admitted to the epilepsy unit and to analyze the clinical characteristics, etiology, and treatment response of this type of infrequent seizure.
They performed a single-center retrospective analysis of all consecutive patients diagnosed with epilepsy with eating-induced seizures between 2008 and 2020.
They included eight patients (six women) with a mean age of 54.75 years (range: 40-79), and a mean age at epilepsy onset of 30.75 years (range: 9-58 years). EIS was triggered during a meal in 5/8 (at dinner 1/8, at breakfast in 1/8, and without time preference in 3/8), by a certain flavor in 1/8, by eating different textures or drinking soft drinks in 1/8, and by slicing food in 1/8. All patients suffered nonreflex seizures and 3/8 other types of reflex seizures. In 6/8 of patients, EIS originated in the right hemisphere. In 5/8, the EIS progressed to impaired awareness with oromandibular automatisms. In 6/8, epilepsy was drug-resistant. Temporopolar encephalocele was the most frequent etiology, in 4/8. Three of the eight underwent surgical treatment, with Engel IA 1 year in 3/3. Three of the eight were treated with vagal stimulation therapy, with McHugh A 1 year in 2/3.
Eating-induced seizures were observed in patients with focal epilepsy. It was frequently drug-resistant and started predominantly in the right hemisphere, due to temporal pole involvement in half of the patients 1)