Early recognition is thus desirable to initiate adequate treatment and improve prognosis.
Outside of the acute window, an incorrect diagnosis can lead to prolonged hospitalization or increase of unhelpful antiepileptic drug therapy. In emergency units, a misdiagnosis can lead to extreme antiepileptic drug escalade, unnecessary resuscitation measures (intubation, catheterization, etc.), as well as needless biologic and imaging investigations. The issue is further complicated in cases of combined PNES with ES. Misdiagnoses are frequent, especially when video-EEG recording, the gold-standard for PNES confirmation, cannot be completed. Distinguishing non-epileptic events, especially psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), from epileptic seizures (ES) constitutes a diagnostic challenge.
