Gelastic seizure

It has been associated with several conditions, such as temporal and frontal lobe lesions, tumors, atrophy, tuberous sclerosis, hemangiomas, and post-infectious foci, but mainly hypothalamic hamartomas.

During or shortly after a seizure, an individual might display some twitching, strange eye movements, lip smacking, fidgeting or mumbling.

Due to early hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis activation in girls who have the seizures, it is not uncommon for them to display secondary sex characteristics before the age of eight.

A computed tomography scan of an individual with a hypothalamic hamartoma would reveal a suprasellar mass with the same density as brain tissue.

However, although a computed tomography scan may be useful in diagnosing the cause of a seizure, in the case of a hypothalamic hamartoma, magnetic resonance imaging is the tool of choice due to the cerebrospinal fluid which defines these masses.

[5] A detailed description was given by the Scottish physician Robert Whytt in 1765,[6] and the term "gelastic seizure" was coined in 1898 by the French neurologist, neuropathologist and epileptologist Charles Féré.