Emergency Medical Minute4 Apr 2018

Podcast #314: Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES)

Author: Gretchen Hinson, M.D.

Educational Pearls:

PNES vs. epilepsy: postictal state is diagnostic of an epileptic seizure (sonorous respirations and/or confusion, lasting typically 20-30 minutes); Epileptiform seizures show decrease in convulsion frequency, but increase in convulsion amplitude while PNES convulsions demonstrate episodic convulsion amplitudes; and epileptiform seizures usually do not pause.

PNES is a form of conversion disorder and can be associated with underlying personality disorder; however there are patients with epilepsy that also can have PNES which complicates the diagnosis and treatment.

Patients that are malingering may have flailing movements and might talk during the episodes - both not typical of epileptic seizures or PNES.

Treatment for PNES is with psychotropic medications and psychotherapy as opposed to antiepileptic medications

References:

Avbersek, A; Sisodiya, S. (2010). Does the primary literature provide support for clinical signs used to distinguish psychogenic nonepileptic seizures from epileptic seizures?. Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry. 81(7):719-25.

Devinsky, O; Gazzola, D; LaFrance, W. Curt (2011). Differentiating between nonepileptic and epileptic seizures. Nature Reviews. Neurology. 7 (4): 210–220.

Lesser, RP. (2003). Treatment and Outcome of Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures. Epilepsy Currents. 3(6):198-200. doi:10.1046/j.1535-7597.2003.03601.x.

Pillaia, JA; Hautab SR. (2012). Patients with epilepsy and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: An inpatient video-EEG monitoring study. Seizure. 21(1): 24-27.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1169)

Podcast 1014: Eating and Drinking on Shift

Contributor; Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: A 2026 survey asked Canadian emergency medicine (EM) physicians about their eating and drinking habits while on shift. Among 527 respondents, 35%...

27 Jul 2min

Podcast 1013: Thoracotomy Indications

Contributor; Taylor Lynch, MD Educational Pearls: Thoracotomy Thoracotomy is used in traumatic cardiac arrest to replace conventional CPR with direct access to the chest. Goals include identif...

20 Jul 3min

Podcast 1012: Meth Sedation

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: Agitated patients who are intoxicated with methamphetamine pose a unique challenge when selecting a sedative to counter their symptoms. Is there ...

13 Jul 1min

Podcast 1011: Creepy Crawlies

Contributor: Meghan Hurley, MD Educational Pearls: What animal is the most lethal to humans? Depending on how we define lethal, and animal, this answer is actually not straight forward. Globall...

6 Jul 7min

Podcast 1010: First Pass Intubation Success

Contributor: Travis Barlock, MD Educational Pearls: First-pass success is critical to limit complications from apnea, hypoxia, and airway trauma. Complication rate for patients intubated on the f...

29 Jun 3min

On the Streets- Zero to Rodeo

Dan Orbidan, OMS-II and Dr. Travis Barlock, MD discuss a real out of hospital call. This episode covers the implications of a pharmacologically abnormal patient presentation and the pre and post hospi...

22 Jun 35min

Carepoint Journal Club- Neurology

Carepoint Journal Club is a quarterly series with discussions about a medical topic, brought to you by Carepoint's Emergency Physicians.

15 Jun 36min

Podcast 1009: Prevention for Recurrent UTI

Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD Educational Pearls: UTIs are commonly seen in older women We often see them taking long-term prophylactic antibiotics because of common recurrence. Around 20-30% of...

8 Jun 1min