Causes of nocturnal paroxysmal events include a variety of disorders such as epileptic seizures, parasomnias, sleep-related movement disorders, and psychiatric disturbances. Timing and semiology of the events, simultaneous video-electroencephalographic observation, presence of any daytime events, and relevant psychiatric and medical history may help in sorting out various possibilities considered in the differential diagnosis of such events. Timely diagnosis of these events is crucial for appropriate management; under-recognition and misdiagnosis of nonepileptic events is not uncommon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo report a novel treatment approach, pallidotomy and deep brain stimulation (DBS), in two sisters with dystonic storm due to Batten's disease. This study is based on long-term follow-up of two sisters, presenting with dystonic storm and their response to pallidotomy and DBS. These sisters, who had visual loss, seizures, and progressive psychomotor decline, experienced progressive disabling abnormal movements culminating in dystonic storm at the age of 15 and 17 years, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStartle disease (hyperekplexia) is a rare non-epileptic disorder characterized by hypertonia, generalized stiffness and brief muscle jerks in response to unexpected auditory, somatosensory and visual stimuli. In this paper, two siblings with generalized stiffness and sudden muscle jerks to unexpected stimuli of various types are presented. They were previously misdiagnosed as epilepsy and treated with the conventional antiepileptic drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStroke etiologies in childhood differ from those in adulthood. While in children, congenital and acquired heart diseases and sickle cell anemia (SCA) are commonly seen causes, atherosclerosis is the main cause in adults. In this study, 39 children admitted to our hospital with ischemic stroke were evaluated according to etiologic factors and treatment regimens with comparison to the literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFamilial idiopathic scoliosis with conjugate gaze palsy is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by progressive scoliosis and congenital absence of conjugate horizontal eye movement. In this article, two siblings who had scoliosis and conjugate gaze palsy are presented regarding clinical and laboratory findings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHot water epilepsy (HWE) is a rare form of reflex epilepsy caused by bathing with hot water. In this paper, we describe three cases with hot water epilepsy. It occurs generally in children with normal psychomotor development and children continue to develop normally after seizure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHyperprolinemia type II (HP II) is a rare inherited metabolic disease due to the deficiency of pyroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase. It is generally believed to be a benign condition although some patients have neurological problems such as refractory convulsions. Here we report a six-year-old girl with HP II who admitted to our hospital with recurrent seizure refractory to multiple antiepileptic drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe clinical features of merosin-positive congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) and merosin-deficient CMD are well known, with those of merosin-deficient CMD being more severe. Whether the severity of histopathological findings correlates with these clinical features remains unanswered. In this study, the clinical and histopathological findings of 39 merosin-deficient and 37 merosin-positive CMD patients were compared.
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