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Gras A, Wardrope A, Hirsch E, Asadi Pooya AA, Duncan R, Gigineishvili D, Hingray C, Kanemoto K, Ladino L, LaFrance WC, McGonigal A, Pretorius C, Valenti Hirsch P, Vidailhet P, Zhou D, Reuber M. Use of suggestive seizure manipulation methods in the investigation of patients with possible psychogenic nonepileptic seizures-An international ILAE survey. Epilepsia Open 2021; 6:472-482. [PMID: 34288577 PMCID: PMC8408588 DOI: 10.1002/epi4.12521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Video‐encephalographic (vEEG) seizure recordings make essential contributions to the differentiation of epilepsy and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). The yield of vEEG examinations can be increased through suggestive seizure manipulation (SSM) (ie, activation/provocation/cessation procedures), but its use has raised ethical concerns. In preparation for guidelines on the investigation of patients with PNES, the ILAE PNES Task Force carried out an international survey to investigate practices of and opinions about SSM. An online questionnaire was developed by the ILAE PNES Task Force. Questions were asked at clinical unit or individual respondent level. All ILAE chapters were encouraged to send questionnaires to their members. The survey was open from July 1, 2019, to August 31, 2019. A total of 487 clinicians from 411 units across 94 countries responded. Some form of SSM was used in 296/411 units (72.0%). Over 90% reported the use of verbal suggestion, over 80% the use of activation procedures also capable of eliciting epileptic activity (hyperventilation or photic stimulation). Only 26.3% of units used techniques specifically intended to provoke PNES (eg, saline injection). Fewer than 10% of units had established protocols for SSM, only 20% of units required written patient consent, in 12.2% of units patients received explicitly false information to provoke seizures. Clinicians using SSM tended to perceive no ethical problems, whereas those not using SSM were likely to have ethical concerns about these methods. We conclude that the use of invasive nocebo techniques intended to provoke PNES in diagnostic settings has declined, but SSM is commonly combined with activation procedures also capable of eliciting epileptic activity. While research suggests that openness about the use of PNES‐specific nocebo techniques does not reduce diagnostic yield, very few units have suggestion protocols or seek patient consent. This could be addressed through establishing consensus guidance for the practice of SSM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrien Gras
- Liaison Psychiatry Unit, 1 Place de l'Hopital, University Hospitals Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Alistair Wardrope
- Academic Neurology Unit, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.,Department of Neurosciences, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK
| | - Edouard Hirsch
- Liaison Psychiatry Unit, 1 Place de l'Hopital, University Hospitals Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.,Epilepsy Unit "Francis Rohmer", INSERM Federation de Médecine Translationelle, CHU-University Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Ali A Asadi Pooya
- Epilepsy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.,Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Rod Duncan
- Neurology, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - David Gigineishvili
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Sarajashvili Institute of Neurology, Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | | | | | - Lady Ladino
- Neurology Section, Epilepsy Program, Hospital Pablo Tobon Uribe, Medellin, Colombia.,Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia
| | - William Curt LaFrance
- Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.,Neurology and Psychiatry, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Aileen McGonigal
- Clinical Neurophysiology and Epileptology Department, Hospital Timone, Marseille, France.,Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Aix-Marseille Universite, Marseille, France
| | - Chrisma Pretorius
- Department of Psychology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
| | | | - Pierre Vidailhet
- Liaison Psychiatry Unit, 1 Place de l'Hopital, University Hospitals Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.,Fédèration de Medecine Translationelle, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Dong Zhou
- Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University West China Hospital, Chengdu, China
| | - Markus Reuber
- Academic Neurology Unit, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.,Department of Neurosciences, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK
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Takasaki K, Diaz Stransky A, Miller G. Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures: Diagnosis, Management, and Bioethics. Pediatr Neurol 2016; 62:3-8. [PMID: 27400821 DOI: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2016.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2015] [Revised: 04/17/2016] [Accepted: 04/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The diagnosis and management of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) is often challenging and fraught with discord and disagreement between patients, parents, and physicians. Furthermore, there are ethical challenges when making the diagnosis, communicating this information, and instituting management. METHODS We reviewed the current body of knowledge regarding the characteristic differences between epileptic seizures and PNES, and the high incidence of psychiatric comorbidities. An ethical analysis was made of diagnosis and management based on ethical principles, virtue ethics, and the social contract that health professionals have with patients. RESULTS Key distinctions between PNES and epilepsy lie in both patient and seizure characteristics. Long duration, eye closure, asynchronous movements, frequent recurrence in the same context, intra-ictal awareness, and lack of post ictal state are useful in helping establish the diagnosis. Psychiatric comorbidities, history of abuse, cognitive impairment, and multiple non specific somatic complaints are some salient patient features that should increase suspicion for the diagnosis of PNES. However, definitive diagnosis rests on capturing the events on video EEG. CONCLUSION Effective diagnosis and management of PNES requires the use of video EEG and an early collaborative approach between pediatricians, neurologists, psychiatrists, nursing staff, and other professional colleagues. Ethical questions that may arise should be addressed with the virtues of competence, courage, compassion, prudence, and honesty; and the principles of respect beneficence, and the avoidance of unnecessary harm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaoru Takasaki
- Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Andrea Diaz Stransky
- Child Study Center, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Geoffrey Miller
- Department of Pediatrics, Program for Biomedical Ethics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
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