Magnetoencephalographic Characteristics of Psychosis in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

To test the hypothesis that some particular magnetoencephalographic findings characterize psychosis manifesting in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients, the authors performed statistical analyses on the correlation between a history of psychosis and four magnetoencephalographic spike-dipole patterns, namely, left and right inferotemporal-horizontal (IH) and superotemporal-vertical (SV) types. Fifty-seven patients with TLE were studied, 16 of whom had a history of psychosis. Of the four types of spike-dipoles, only left SV type showed a strong correlation with psychosis, suggesting that dysfunction of the left temporal neocortex specifically contributes to the manifestation of psychotic symptoms in TLE patients.