Sensory Jacksonian seizures.

Sensory Jacksonian seizures were analyzed in 42 patients with regard to anatomical and temporal sequences. The origin of sensory Jacksonian seizures, in contrast to motor Jacksonian seizures, often began at peripheral sites with littel cortical representation. The progression of seizure activity across the cerebral cortex followed a course that was neither rectilinear, radiate, nor random; it appeared to preceed in an organized manner to involve functionally coherent units. The patterns analyzed conformed more closely to cortical somatosensory maps reported for the chimpanzee than the sensory sequences presently available for the cortex of man. Complete diagnostic studies are indicated in patients presenting with sensory Jacksonian seizures because of the frequency of related focal pathology.