An "epileptic scent": Olfactory auras in tumor-related epilepsy.
Epilepsy Behav
; 151: 109642, 2024 Feb.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38242066
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
To characterize a profile for patients with tumor-related epilepsy presenting olfactory auras. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
We conducted a monocentric, retrospective study on patients who underwent surgery in the Neurosurgery Unit of Udine University Hospital (Udine, Italy), between the 1st of January 2010 and the 1st of January 2019, for primary brain tumors (PBTs) involving the temporal lobe and the insula. All patients were affected by tumor-related epilepsy; the study group presented olfactory auras as well. We collected neuroradiological, neuropsychological and neurophysiological data from patients' medical charts.RESULTS:
The subtraction analysis of MRI data shows maximum lesion overlay in left olfactory cortex, left and right hippocampus, left amygdala, right rolandic operculum, right inferior frontal gyrus and right middle temporal gyrus. The presence of olfactory auras did not influence seizure outcome (p = 0.500) or tumor recurrence after surgery (p = 0.185). The type of auras (elementary vs. complex), also, did not influence seizure control (p = 0.222).DISCUSSION:
In presence of olfactory auras, anterior and mesial temporal regions are mainly involved, such as olfactory cortex, amygdala, and anterior hippocampus, together with right rolandic operculum, right inferior frontal gyrus and right middle temporal gyrus, suggesting their possible role in the genesis of olfactory auras. Post-surgical seizure outcome and disease relapse are not influenced by neither the presence nor the type of olfactory auras.CONCLUSIONS:
Olfactory auras are rare event, however they may be often underestimated by the patients and under-investigated by the clinicians, even when their occurrence can represent a useful localizing tool.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Epilepsy
/
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe
/
Neoplasms
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Epilepsy Behav
Journal subject:
CIENCIAS DO COMPORTAMENTO
/
NEUROLOGIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication: