APHASIA SECONDARY TO PARTIAL STATUS EPILEPTICUS OF THE BASAL TEMPORALLANGUAGE AREA

We present a patient with aphasia of several days' duration that was s econdary to spontaneous partial status epilepticus arising from the le ft basal temporal region. Evidence from MRI, EEG, and PET confirmed th e origin of the seizures in the basal temporal area. Both the seizure discharges and the aphasia resolved after antiepileptic therapy. This case, to our kmowledge, is the first documented example of epileptic a phasia secondary to spontaneous partial status epilepticus originating from the basal temporal area.