A Case with Bilateral Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia Diagnosed as Depression

Abstract

Periventricular nodular heterotopia is a form of neuronal migration abnormality. Periventricular nodular heterotopia can easily be recognized by cranial magnetic resonance imaging. The most common clinical appearance is epileptic seizures. In some cases, symptoms are accompanied with psychiatric complaints. In this article, we report a 33-year-old female with complaints of left-sided paresthesia induced by emotional stress. She had been followed at an outpatient psychiatry clinic for about 10 years with the diagnosis of somatization disorder. Her electroencephalography recordings -awake as well as during sleep- were found to be normal. The cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed bilateral periventricular nodular heterotopia. Her seizures were controlled with carbamazepine treatment. Partial epileptic seizures might also be observed, even though the cerebral heterotopic lesions are bilateral. When a history is obtained from a patient with somatoform complaints, it should be kept in mind that these symptoms might be seizures, and the patient should be questioned accordingly.