How Can a Focal Seizure Lead to a Dacrystic Behavior? A Case Analyzed with Functional Connectivity in Stereoelectroencephalography

We present a case of a patient with focal non-motor emotional seizures with dacrystic expression in the context of drug-resistant magnetic resonance imaging negative epilepsy. The pre-surgical evaluation suggested a hypothesis of a right fronto-temporal epileptogenic zone. Stereoelectroencephalography recorded dacrystic seizures arising from the right anterior operculo-insular (pars orbitalis) area with secondary propagation to temporal and parietal cortices during the dacrystic behavior. We analyzed functional connectivity during the ictal dacrystic behavior and found an increase of the functional connectivity within a large right fronto-temporo-insular network, broadly similar to the "emotional excitatory" network. It suggests that focal seizure, potentially, from various origins but leading to disorganization of these physiological networks may generate dacrystic behavior.