Intractable epilepsy, audio-visual hallucinations and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease 1A in an African-American boy.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease 1A (CMT1A) is the most common autosomal dominant demyelinating sensorimotor polyneuropathy. A few patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease were reported in the literature to have epilepsy. We report on an African-American boy with CMT1A, with duplication of peripheral myelin protein 22 gene, who also developed intractable generalized tonic-clonic seizures and audiovisual hallucinations.

Type 1 ataxia with oculomotor apraxia with aprataxin gene mutations in two American children.

Ataxia and oculomotor apraxia are seen in ataxia-telangiectasia, type 1 ataxia with oculomotor apraxia, and type 2 ataxia with oculomotor apraxia; however, only type 1 ataxia with oculomotor apraxia is associated with aprataxin gene mutation. We report two American children, a sister and a brother, with type 1 ataxia with oculomotor apraxia and aprataxin gene mutations and briefly review type 1 ataxia with oculomotor apraxia.

Cri du chat syndrome and complex karyotype in a patient with infantile spasms, hypsarrhythmia, nonketotic hyperglycinemia, and heterotopia.

Seizures are rarely reported in association with deletion or duplication syndromes of the short arm of chromosome 5, or with chromosome 5 rings. We report on the clinical and cytogenetic findings in a girl with Cri du chat syndrome associated with complex abnormalities in chromosome 5, dysmorphic features, flexor infantile spasms, hypsarrhythmia, nonketotic hyperglycinemia, and heterotopia in her brain. Peripheral blood cytogenetic analysis indicates a mosaic karyotype with de novo deletion of varying amounts of 5p and pericentric inversion of the same chromosome 5.

Complete biotinidase deficiency presenting as reversible progressive ataxia and sensorineural deafness.

Most symptomatic patients with biotinidase deficiency have both neurologic and cutaneous symptoms and typical organic aciduria. We encountered a previously healthy girl with complete biotinidase deficiency presenting initially at age 17 months with episodic ataxia that became severe progressive ataxia in 2 months, but without skin rash or typical organic aciduria, which resolved completely with biotin treatment. Additionally, moderate sensorineural deafness also improved to the normal range.