Table 1.
Summary of cases of abdominal motor seizures reported in the English literature
| Reference | Age and Sex | Phenomenology Description | Seizure Type | Lesion and/or Seizure Focus Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nathanson 197811 |
Varied (4 cases) |
Coma with brainstem signs and bilateral clonic axial contractions (face, tongue, palate, pharynx, diaphragm, abdomen) | Focal motor with or without loss of awareness versus status epilepticus | Brainstem (“lowest‐level seizures”) |
| Matsuo 19841 |
19‐year‐old woman | Right truncal spasms spreading to right limb muscles; postictal right hemiparesis described | Focal motor | Contralateral parietal (abscess, meningioma, idiopathic) |
| 66‐year‐old woman | Left lower abdominal spasms with postictal left hemiparesis | |||
| 42‐year‐old man | Right abdominal contractions spreading to right shoulder, neck, face, and eyes | |||
| Rosenbaum 19902 |
65‐year‐old man | Left hemiparesis followed by clonic left‐sided seizures that localized to the left abdomen after antiepileptic therapy; recurrent seizures involved left‐sided abdominal, limbs, and facial muscles | Focal motor status epilepticus | Right frontoparietal metastasis |
| Chalk 199112 |
66‐year‐old man | Short episodes of brief, rhythmic (2–3 Hz) left abdominal contractions with occasional proximal left leg involvement and subclinical facial contractions | Focal motor status epilepticus | Right parasagittal |
| Fernandez‐Torre 20043 |
77‐year‐old woman | Dysphasia, left‐sided hemiparesis, hemianesthesia, hemiasomatognosia, and clonic twitching with right‐sided gaze deviation that localized to the left abdomen after antiepileptic therapy (video available) |
Focal motor status epilepticus (bilateral cortical myoclonus) | Right frontal metastasis (also right temporal, left mesial frontal, and right cerebellar metastases) |
| Dafotakis 20065 |
62‐year‐old man | Clonic twitching of left abdominal muscles (video available) |
Focal motor status epilepticus | Unknown (transient right parietal MRI abnormalities during status) |
| Tezer 20086 |
25‐year‐old woman | Treated epileptic patient with increased seizure frequency including right abdominal and facial myoclonic twitching at 1 to 2 Hz (video available) | Focal motor status epilepticus | Left mesial parieto‐occipital (cortical displasia) |
| Oster 20114 |
59‐year‐old man | Right abdominal spasms followed by additional right limb clonic contractions and occasional tonic‐clonic generalization | Focal motor onset with and without secondary generalization | Left mesial frontoparietal (ictal single‐photon emission computed tomography) |
| Ribeiro 20157 |
69‐year‐old man | Treated epileptic patient with dysphasia, right hemiparesis and continuous right‐sided abdominal myoclonic jerks (video available) |
Focal motor status epilepticus | Left occipital (in the context of prrvious left frontal temporo‐occipital hemorrhage) |
| 75‐year‐old man | Left hemiparesis, left‐sided gaze deviation, and continuous left‐sided myoclonic movements that localized to left abdomen after antiepileptic treatment (video available) |
Right occipital (in the context of prior right occipital infarction) | ||
| Aljaafari 20188 |
26‐year‐old man | Treated epileptic patient with right neck and shoulder pulling, with or without arm contractions and right head deviation, followed by right abdominal clonic movements and occasional tonic‐clonic generalization (video available) |
Focal motor onset with and without secondary generalization | Left mesial parietal |