Ictal Fear or Panic Attack, This Is the Question—A Video–EEG Study

Abstract

Panic disorder (PD) and focal epilepsy, in particular, temporal lobe epilepsy, often present diagnostic challenges due to overlapping clinical manifestations. This article describes the case of a 25-year-old female, misdiagnosed with PD for 15 years, whose recurring episodes of sudden fear, palpitations, and nausea were later identified as manifestations of focal epilepsy. Initially unresponsive to conventional anti-anxiety medications, the patient’s correct diagnosis was only established through comprehensive electro-clinical, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging evaluations during her admission to our research hospital. Long-term video–EEG monitoring (LTVEM) played a pivotal role in identifying the epileptic nature of her episodes, which were characterized by paroxysmal activity in the right temporal and zygomatic regions, consistent with the location of a dysplastic lesion in the right amygdala, as revealed by high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. These findings underline the importance of considering focal epilepsy in the differential diagnosis of PD, especially in cases refractory to standard psychiatric treatments. The misdiagnosis of epilepsy as PD can lead to significant delays in appropriate treatment, potentially exacerbating the patient’s condition and affecting their quality of life. This case emphasizes the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach and the utilization of advanced diagnostic tools like LTVEM in elucidating the underlying causes of paroxysmal psychiatric symptoms.