Journal of Pediatric Epilepsy 2019; 08(04): 109-113
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-3400470
Review Article
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Musicogenic Epilepsy: Clinical Features, Pathophysiology, and Review of Literature

Ahmad Marashly
1   Division of Pediatric Neurology, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

12 December 2018

23 January 2019

Publication Date:
27 November 2019 (online)

Abstract

Musicogenic epilepsy is a special type of reflex epilepsy characterized by recurring seizures in response to hearing-specific musical triggers. Clinical features include focal dyscognitive seizures with typical temporal lobe semiology, normal structural brain imaging, functional imaging abnormalities in wide regions of the brain responsible for emotional and musical processing, variable locations of seizure onset within the temporal lobe, and in refractory cases good response to surgery. Musicogenic epilepsy is poorly understood from a pathophysiological standpoint and thus reflects the complexity of brain networks responsible for auditory, emotional, and cognitive functions.

 
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