Laughter Epilepsy

Lehtinen, Lauri; Kivalo, Annikki

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0404.1965.tb04297.x

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…A few patients have described feelings of mirth associated with laughter [14, 15, 16]or with a cause felt to be amusing. In 1 example, the seizures were evoked by hyperextension of the back; in 1 case, a sexual sensation was reported before the development of laughter.…”

Section: Gelastic Seizure With a Temporal Focusmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Note on Gelastic Epilepsy

Pearce

2004

Eur Neurol

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Laughter epilepsy or gelastic seizures have been described in various epilepsies arising from the temporal or frontal lobes, but most commonly from hypothalamic hamartomata. Gelastic seizures also arise from temporal and frontal lobe tumours and atrophic lesions. The essential clinical features are: stereotyped recurrence; absence of external precipitants; concomitance of other manifestations generally accepted as epileptic; presence of interictal or interictal EEG epileptiform discharges, and absence of conditions in which pathological laughter might occur. The history and clinical significance are discussed.

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Section: Gelastic Seizure With a Temporal Focusmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Note on Gelastic Epilepsy

Pearce

2004

Eur Neurol

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“…Impaired intellectual function and behaviour problems from brain damage are commonly reported in gelastic seizures (Lehtinen and Kivalo, 1965;Gumpert et al, 1970;Chen and Forster, 1973). In the present patient, there was marked intellectual impairment and it was the severe behaviour problems that prompted his initial hospital referral.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

“…The interictal epileptic discharges in the EEG and the control of the episodes of running attacks and uncontrollable laughter with phenytoin further support the epileptic nature of these repetitive attacks. Not all patients with gelastic or cursive seizures, however, remain unconscious during the ictus; nonetheless, these patients later recall that they were unable to control the running, or 'forced' laughter, or failed to experience the amusement that usually accompanies laughter (Strauss, 1960;Lehtinen and Kivalo, 1965).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cursive and gelastic epilepsy: probable sequelae of physical abuse

Woon

Vignaendra

1978

Postgraduate Medical Journal

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SummaryAn abandoned 8-year-old male child, who was subjected to physical abuse, presented with abnormal behaviour and focal seizures. The focal seizures included involuntary running attacks (epilepsia cursiva) and uncontrollable laughter (gelastic epilepsy).The occurrence of cursive and gelastic seizures in the same patient is extremely rare. These fits were probably a late sequel of head trauma. IntroductionEpisodic attacks of running and uncontrollable laughter, in persons with disturbed consciousness, are recognized as rare epileptic manifestations and are called cursive seizures (Sisler, Levy and Roseman, 1953) and gelastic epilepsy (Daly and Mulder, 1957) respectively. Chen and Forster (1973) found that only 0 32% of their seizure population had either gelastic or cursive fits. It was extremely rare for both seizures to occur in the same patient. In battered children sustaining head injuries, 1-5% develop post-traumatic seizures (Till, 1975). A child is now described who was battered, and manifested both gelastic and cursive seizures which were a probable late sequel of head trauma.

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“…A few cases have been reported with temporal lobe tumour (Daly and Mulder, 1957) and several with temporal or frontotemporal electroencephalographic foci (Ironside, 1956;Druckman and Chao, 1957;Daly and Mulder, 1957;Weil et al, 1958;Fukuyama et al, 1959;Lehtinen and Kivalo, 1965;Roger et al, 1967;Zecchini and Cecotto, 1967). Other reports have described lesions of the basal ganglia, hypothalamic region, and in the wall of the third ventricle (Dott, 1938;Ironside, 1956;List et al, 1958;Gumpert et al, 1970;Gascon and Lombroso, 1971).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gelastic, quiritarian, and cursive epilepsy. A clinicopathological appraisal.

Sethi¹,

Rao²

1976

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry

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SYNOPSIS A patient is reported with episodes of epileptic laughter, crying, and running occurring alone or in combination. He was found to have a discrete, well-circumscribed tumour of the left temporal lobe. The neurology of these epileptic events is discussed in relation to the pathological lesion.Laughter as an epileptic phenomenon is extremely uncommon and equally so is episodic running. The combination of these two forms of epilepsy-'gelastic' (laughter) and 'cursive' (running)-in the same individual is rare. There are only two earlier reports, of in all, three cases (Sisler et al., 1953;Chen and Forster, 1973). All these cases resulted from diffuse cerebral disorder. We studied an individual with such episodic events of laughter, running and also crying occurring alone or in combination, associated with a discrete neoplastic lesion in the left temporal lobe. This case permits appraisal of cerebral localization of 'centres' for the physical expression of emotions. Crying as an ictal event has not received much attention in the literature. We coin the word 'quiritarian' epilepsy (quiritare: Latin: to cry/scream) to indicate this phenomenon. CASE REPORTA 33 year old infantry soldier was evacuated to our neurological centre with a history of episodic seizures for one and a half years. He was observed to have four to six seizures a day, lasting 0.5-1.0 minute. In some of these episodes he would burst into crying, while in others into laughter and sometimes there was a curious mixture of both. The laughter did not have an infectious quality. He was later observed to have, in addition, episodes of running. There was no con- (Figs. 1-4). He suddenly burst into laughter, with squeezing of the eyelids (Fig. 1) and, at the same time rubbing his upper abdomen, ran to the other end of the room near the door (Fig. 2), then turned and ran diagonally across with an expression of fear on his face (Fig. 3), followed immediately by a frozen expression of defiance, keeping both hands in the position of boxing, standing against the wall as if ready to fight (Fig. 4). The whole episode lasted for about 90 seconds. Postictally for about 30 seconds he would brush aside any attempts to take his pulse, very arrogantly. After that, he was his normal self with no memory for the whole episode.There was no history of trauma or any febrile episode in the past and no history of epilepsy in the family. Systemic survey and neurological examination were within normal limits except for a right central type of facial asymmetry. Electroencephalography showed generalized spike discharges during seizures induced by hyperventilation with an epileptogenic focus in the left temporal lobe. Routine laboratory investigations and radiography of the skull did not reveal any abnormalities. Left carotid angiography showed changes consistent with a relatively avascular space occupying lesion in the anterior and middle temporal area (Fig. 5a, b).OPERATIVE FINDINGS At left temporal craniotomy he was found to have a light yellowish-brown, wellcircumscribed, ...

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Laughter Epilepsy

Cited by 15 publications

References 6 publications

A Note on Gelastic Epilepsy

A Note on Gelastic Epilepsy

Cursive and gelastic epilepsy: probable sequelae of physical abuse

Gelastic, quiritarian, and cursive epilepsy. A clinicopathological appraisal.

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