Nonepileptic seizures (NES) are clinical events that can resemble almost any seizure phenotype, but are behavioral and emotional manifestations of psychological distress, conflict, or trauma. Intractable NES is a disabling disorder that drastically affects patients' emotional well-being. Differential diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of NES is complex, with differentials scattered across an array of neurological and psychiatric disorders. This paper provides an overview of issues related to the diagnosis and treatment of NES. It highlights characteristics and risk factors of the disorder, issues in differential diagnosis, and treatment considerations.

Various neuroimaging modalities are available for evaluating patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). All patients considering surgery should undergo magnetic resonance imaging, which is valuable in the detection and characterization of lesions, particularly mesial temporal sclerosis, the most common abnormality in TLE. A localized seizure focus is predictive of successful surgical outcome. Complimentary neuroimaging studies include positron emission tomography, single-photon emission tomography, and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

The last 4 years have seen a rapid burst of development of medications used to treat epileptic seizures. While none of these medications has replaced the “standards” in the field, they collectively offer additional treatment options for patients, particularly for those with difficult-to-control seizures. As experience with these novel medications grows, each will occupy its own niche in the treatment strategy for patients with epilepsy.

Over the past half century, a number of advances have been made in surgical approaches to treating refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. This article explains some of the newer approaches and provides support for selective amygdalohippocampectomy. Appropriate preoperative workup, including various invasive monitoring techniques, is also described.