Ictal Vomiting as an Initial Symptom of Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy in Infancy: A Case Report

Abstract

We report on 3-year-old Japanese twin brothers suffering from ictal vomiting during infancy. Intractable seizures, including generalized tonic-clonic convulsions, and myoclonic seizures persisted in late infancy. The diagnosis of severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy was confirmed by detecting a mutation in the voltage-gated sodium channel alpha subunit type gene. This is the first case report addressing ictal vomiting as the initial presentation of severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy.

Keywords

ictal vomiting severe myoclonic epilepsy Panayiotopoulos syndrome Rolandic epilepsy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Wolff M. , Casse-Perrot C. , Dravet C. Severe myoclonic epilepsy of infants (Dravet syndrome): natural history and neurophsychological findings. Epilepsia. 2006 ;47:45-48.

Nakayama J. , Arinami T. Molecular genetics of febrile seizures. Epilepsy Res. 2006;70(suppl 1):S190-S198.

Panayiotopoulos CP Early-onset benign childhood occipital seizure susceptibility syndrome: a syndrome to recognize. Epilepsia . 1999;40:621-630.

Covanis A. , Lada C. , Skiadas K. Children with Rolandic epilepsy or Panayiotopoulos syndrome? Epileptic Disord. 2003;5:139-143.

LoddenKemper T. , Kotagal P. Lateralizing sign during seizures in focal epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2005;7:1-17.

Hokama T. , Gushiken M. , Nosoko N. Iron deficiency anemias and child development. Asia Pac J Public. 2005;17:19-21.

Harkin LA , McMahon JM , Iona X. , et al. The spectrum of SCN1A-related infantile epileptic encephalopathies . Brain. 2007;130:834-852.

Grosso S. , Orrico A. , Galli L. , Di Bartolo R. , Sorrentino V. , Balestri P. SCN1A mutation associated with atypical Panayiotopoulos syndrome. Neurology. 2007;69:609-611.

Penfield W. , Faulk ME Jr. The insula: further observations on its function. Brain. 1955;78:445-470.

10.

Mulder DW , Daly D. , Bailei AA Visceral epilepsy. Arch Intern Med. 1954;3:481-493.

11.

Baumgartner C. , Olbrich A. , Lindinger G. , et al. Regional cerebral blood flow during temporal lobe seizures associated with ictal vomiting: an ictal SPECT study in two patients. Epilepsia. 1999;40:1085-1091.

12.

Kanazawa O. , Tohyama J. , Akasaka N. , Kamimura T. A magnetoencephalographic study of patients with Panayiotopoulos syndrome. Epilepsia. 2005;26:1106-1113.

13.

Yoshinaga H. , Koutroumanidis M. , Shirasawa A. , Kikumoto K. , Ohtsuka Y. , Oka E. Dipole analysis in Panayiotopoulos syndrome . Brain Dev. 2005;27:46-52.

14.

Fujiwara T. , Sugawara T. , Mazaki-Miyazaki E. , et al. Mutation of sodium channel subunit type 1 (SCN1A) in intractable childhood epilepsies with frequent generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Brain. 2003;126:531-546.