Prolonged sensory or visceral symptoms: an under-diagnosed form of non-convulsive focal (simple partial) status epilepticus

Four patients had prolonged, sensory, simple partial seizures (SPS), lasting up to several days, without associated behavioural impairment. In three patients, the SPS often occurred as a prolonged "aura" before a more overt seizure. Descriptions included: "butterflies", rising epigastric sensation; "a thought in the stomach", and an olfactory sensation. Seizure localisation was frontal in one case, temporal in two cases and uncertain in one case. These sensations may represent an under-reported form of continuous, focal seizure activity, which arises from various cerebral regions.