Cases of Occipital Lobe Epilepsy

Occipital lobe is located at posterior cerebral hemisphere. It is of triangle shape, with a blunted round tip called the occipital pole. In the medial surface of cerebral cortex, the boundary between the parietal lobe and occipital lobe is the parieto-occipital sulcus; the calacarine fissure that runs horizontally towards the occipital pole can be seen posterior to the posterior edge of corpus callosum; the calacarine fissure divides the occipital lobe into the dorsal cuneus and the ventral lingualis gyrus. According to the Brodmann areas, the occipital lobe consists of Areas 17, 18, and 19. The occipital lobe connects to other cerebral regions through many nerve tracts, including the superior longitudinal fasciculus, which runs above the insula, and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, which runs shallowly between the lateral surface and the ventral surface of the occipital and temporal lobes; superior occipito-frontalis fasciculus is located deep in the hemisphere and surrounded by corpus callosum, capsula interna, cauda nuclei caudati, and lateral ventricle; inferior occipito-frontalis fasciculus is located at the root of temporal lobe below the insula and caudate nucleus and connects the basal surface of the frontal lobe and parietal occipital cortex; these fasciculi provide channels for rapid connections between the occipital lobe and frontal, temporal, and parietal cortex. Therefore, seizures originated from the occipital lobe can easily spread to the ipsilateral frontal, temporal and parietal lobe, and even the contralateral lobe. Therefore, the characteristics of occipital lobe epilepsy are closely related to the anatomic structure and physiological functions of the occipital lobe.