The presence and location of an injury to the tongue may indicate whether a patient had a seizure or a syncopal episode.
Location of Tongue Injury
Implication
side of the tongue
seizure
tip of the tongue
syncopal episode
Only a subset of patients with seizures have tongue injuries (it is more common in a generalized tonic clonic seizure) but when they do it is almost always on the side of the tongue. Thus the finding has a low sensitivity but high specificity.
Clinical findings that can occur in both seizures and syncopal episodes:
(1) transient loss of consciousness
(2) limb jerking
(3) urinary incontinence
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