Blindness as an ictal phenomenon: investigations with EEG and SPECT in two patients suffering from epilepsy

Blindness is a rare ictal phenomenon in epileptic seizures. It can occur as an aura, as the seizure itself, or postictally. We investigated two such patients, in one of whom blindness manifested as an aura prior to tonic clonic seizures; the interictal EEG exhibited a spike-wave focus bioccipitally. In the second patient blindness occurred postictally. An ictal SPECT, carried out at the onset of the seizure demonstrated marked hyperperfusion in both occipital regions.