PARTIAL EPILEPTIC SEIZURES OF DIFFERENT ORIGIN VARIABLY AFFECT CARDIAC-RHYTHM

Purpose; The present study was aimed at evaluating electrocardiographi c (EGG) changes associated with partial epileptic seizures without sei zure activity secondarily generalized. Methods: We assessed heart rate (HR) changes occurring during 100 partial epileptic seizures, as reco rded by ambulatory EEG-ECG in 50 outpatients. Consecutive RR intervals were measured for the 30 s immediately preceding the onset and for th e first 10-s period of discharge. In addition, HR was sampled at 10-s intervals during EEG paroxysmal discharge and for 1 min after the end of discharge Results: The highest and lowest respective HR peaks achie ved during these seizures were 186 and 44 beats/min. Analysis of the R -R intervals during the first 10-s period of EEG discharge showed a si gnificant early HR increase in 49% of the seizures: the corresponding figure for an early HR reduction was 25.5%. Eighty percent of the seiz ures showing an early HR decrease were of temporal lobe origin. No sev ere cardiac arrhythmias were noted during the seizures, Conclusions: O ur data suggest that an early HR decrease is more probable in temporal lobe seizures than in seizures of other origin. An accurate HR measur ement, focused on discharge onset, may provide both a reliable way of evaluating the possible effect of partial seizures on HR and valuable information about the cerebral sites involved in the control of cardia c rhythm.