Ictal spitting during a left temporal lobe-originated complex partial seizure: a case report

We present a 35-year-old male patient with intractable temporal lobe epilep sy in whom spitting automatism was documented by ictal recordings during se izures. Spitting is an uncommon automatism and occurs mainly with right-sid ed, nondominant temporal focus. However, our patient had left mesial tempor al sclerosis with nonverbal memory impairment, but intracarotid amobarbital test demonstrated language and memory dominance on the right hemisphere. T he authors feel that this case supports the hypothesis of a nondominant tem poral lobe origin for the spitting automatism.