DE-NOVO APHASIC STATUS EPILEPTICUS

The literature contains only a handful of reports of patients with aph asia as the principal or only obvious manifestation of partial status epilepticus. Even fewer patients of this type have been well documente d both clinically and by ictal EEG monitoring. We studied an otherwise healthy woman with abrupt onset of aphasia initially thought to be th e result of an infarct of the left temporoparietal area. We were able to document partial status epilepticus involving the left temporoparie tal area with EEG/video monitoring and showed rapid reversal of the ap hasic disorder with antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment. The case is pr esented with a review of previous reports to underscore the importance of considering this diagnosis in patients with abrupt onset of aphasi a.