Periodic episodes of aphasia as an unusual manifestation of partial status epilepticus.

Recurrent episodes of aphasia due to partial status epilepticus is an uncommon clinical entity. We report here a 78-year-old-woman with episodic aphasia which occurred periodically. During the ictal period, she was conscious, but had difficulty in speech and could not comprehend verbal commands. The ictal EEG showed continuous spike and sharp waves over the left frontotemporal area. After the administration of antiepileptic drugs, her language activity returned to near the baseline level and the epileptic discharges were significantly reduced. Nonconvulsive partial status epilepticus should be considered in the differential diagnosis of recurrent aphasia, even if the symptoms occur periodically.