Ictal tachycardia during temporal lobe seizures.

A seldom-recognized accompaniment of temporal lobe seizures is tachycardia. This phenomenon was observed in 12 consecutive patients in whom spontaneous seizures were recorded with simultaneous electroencephalographic, electrocardiographic, and videotape monitoring; this finding indicates with a 99% confidence level that this phenomenon may occur in at least 64% of temporal lobe seizures. The autonomic influences responsible for ictal tachycardia during temporal lobe seizures may be inconsequential in patients without cardiac disease but can have serious consequences in patients with cardiac disease.