A patient with a seizure disorder may experience a cardiac arrhythmia triggered by seizures.
Patient selection: seizure disorder
Diagnosis often requires 24-hour Holter monitoring to demonstrate the temporal relationship with seizures.
Cardiac arrhythmias may include:
(1) bradycardia (ictal bradycardia)
(2) atrioventricular conduction block (ictal or postictal AV block)
(3) asystole (postictal asystole)
(4) ventricular tachycardia
(5) atrial fibrillation or flutter
Temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with asystole, bradycardia and atrioventricular block.
Some patients may have comorbid obstructive sleep apnea.
The presence of a ventricular arrythmia after a seizure may explain some cases of sudden death in epilepsy (SUDEP).
