Syncope and seizure-like activity secondary to acute herpes zoster infection of the trigeminal nerve.

Syncope may occur with glossopharyngeal neuralgia. We describe a patient with acute herpetic infection of the first branch of the trigeminal nerve associated with episodes of shooting pain, cardiac arrest and tonic-clonic movements. Resemblances with the so-called "cardiovascular" form of glossopharyngeal neuralgia, as well as putative mechanisms of the syncope, are discussed.