Epileptic seizures can manifest with a variety of clinical symptoms. Depending on the dominant symptom, several differential diagnoses have to be considered. Their differentiation can be challenging, especially after the first episode. The review article summarizes the most common differential diagnoses as well as their characteristics compared to epileptic seizures, aiming at providing guidelines for their clinical differentiation. Whenever a clear diagnosis is not possible based on the patient history and clinical signs, diagnostic evaluation with, e. g. an electroencephalogram (EEG) and finally EEG video monitoring can be helpful.
Keywords: Aura; Epilepsy-like event; Loss of consciousness; Paroxysmal event; Trigger factors.