Introduction: Although focal motor seizures may resemble one or more movement disorders their phenomenology and prevalence remain uncertain.
Methods: To examine the extent to which focal motor seizures can present with a phenomenology fulfilling diagnostic criteria for movement disorders, 100 consecutive patients with focal motor seizures were rated by movement disorders experts, epileptologists, and general neurologists.
Results: A focal motor seizure phenomenologically manifested as a defined movement disorder in 29% of the patients from a consecutive video-EEG documented cohort as per consensus among experts: myoclonus and dystonia (10 and 9 cases, respectively) were the most common movement disorders, followed by chorea (4), stereotypies (3) myoclonus-dystonia (2), and tremor (1).
Conclusions: Movement disorders and focal motor epilepsy share overlapping movement phenomenology.
Keywords: Dystonia; Epilepsy; Focal seizure; Movement disorders; Myoclonus.
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