Ipsilateral blinking seizures during left fronto-temporal ictal pattern on scalp EEG.

We report an infant with left eye blinking seizures accompanying a left (ipsilateral) fronto-temporal scalp EEG ictal pattern. The epileptogenic lesion was a left frontal encephalomalacia along the ventriculo-peritoneal shunt tract. The shunt was inserted for treatment of communicating hydrocephalus. This case illustrates the lateralizing value of the ictal blinking. Review of the literature suggests that seizures with unilateral blinking are likely to be produced by activation of ipsilateral trigeminal fibers innervating subdural intracranial structures and pial vessels in temporal and frontal lobes. Ipsilateral blinking could also be produced by activation of the ipsilateral cerebellar hemisphere.