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Visual Symptoms in Epilepsy and Migraine: Localization and Patterns
Author(s) -
Muranaka Hideki,
Fujita Hiroshi,
Goto Akira,
Osari Shinichi,
Kimura Yoshiharu
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1046/j.1528-1157.2001.080876.x
Subject(s) - migraine , epilepsy , visual field , medicine , psychology , audiology , neuroscience , ophthalmology , anesthesia
Summary: Purpose: To clarify differences in the localization of visual symptom patterns in epilepsy and migraine, we analyzed patient‐generated illustrations of visual symptoms. Methods: Patients were asked to draw their visual symptoms from memory using marker pens of 12 colors. All patients illustrated their symptoms on a template sheet representing the binocular visual field. We analyzed a total of 67 illustrations from 54 patients aged 6–40 years: 28 with epilepsy, 23 with migraine, and 3 with migraine‐epilepsy syndrome. Results: With respect to positive visual manifestations, those of epileptic patients were predominantly centrally localized (20 of 24, 83%), whereas those of migraine patients were predominantly peripherally localized (10 of 13, 77%) (p < 0.0001). With respect to negative visual symptoms, those in epilepsy were commonly diffuse (10 of 14, 71%) compared with those in migraine, which were peripheral (9 of 12, 75%) (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Results of this study suggest that the localization of visual symptoms differs between epilepsy and migraine.