Ictal fear of death with preserved context dependent speech and postictal amnesia in focal epilepsy

Authors

• Christopher Saouda, Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
• Yasmeen Kassem-Scott, Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, United States.
• Elham El Hallak, Harvard Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States.
• Prarthana Hareesh, Department of Neurology, Wellspan Health, Chambersburg, PA, United States.
• Victoria Vinarsky, Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
• Alexandra Eid, Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
• Yamane Makke, Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
• Mohamad Zakaria Koubeissi, Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-1-2026

Journal

Frontiers in neurology

Volume

17

DOI

10.3389/fneur.2026.1784636

Keywords

amnesia; death; fear; focal; language

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Seizure semiology reflects dynamic interactions among ictal activity, internal state, and environmental context, and often involves distributed neural networks beyond the epileptogenic focus. METHODS: We report a 27-year-old right-handed, blind, bilingual man with focal epilepsy whose seizures were characterized by intense fear of imminent death, loud and coherent vocalizations, context-dependent bilingual language use, accurate autobiographical references, preserved responsiveness, and complete postictal amnesia. RESULTS: During seizures, the patient consistently addressed his mother in Urdu or English while speaking exclusively in English to medical staff, demonstrating preserved pragmatic awareness; nevertheless, he had no recollection of events afterward and expressed surprise when he heard his ictal vocalizations on the recorded video. Brain MRI revealed a left middle cranial fossa arachnoid cyst abutting the medial temporal lobe and ictal onset was in the right anterior temporal region. DISCUSSION: This case expands the spectrum of ictal fear and ictal speech by illustrating the convergence of multilingual communication, autobiographical integration, and pure postictal amnesia, highlighting the engagement of distributed limbic, interoceptive, and medial frontal networks.

APA Citation

Saouda, Christopher; Kassem-Scott, Yasmeen; El Hallak, Elham; Hareesh, Prarthana; Vinarsky, Victoria; Eid, Alexandra; Makke, Yamane; and Koubeissi, Mohamad Zakaria, "Ictal fear of death with preserved context dependent speech and postictal amnesia in focal epilepsy" (2026). GW Authored Works. Paper 8932.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/8932

Department

Neurology