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Volume 09
Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
ISSN: 2161-0460
Epilepsy 2019
Parkinsons Congress 2019
August 29-31, 2019
JOINT EVENT
conferenceseries
.com
August 29-31, 2019 Vienna, Austria
&
5
th
International Conference on
Epilepsy & Treatment
5
th
World Congress on
Parkinsons & Huntington Disease
Analysing the common clinical features in chronic refractory epileptic patients with proven autoimmunity
– Perisylvian semiology as a diagnostic clue
Grace Zylstra
Mater Adults Hospital, Australia
Objective:
We report a case series of 9 patients with chronic medically refractory autoimmune epilepsy and
assess their common clinical features. Immune mediated seizures are most commonly reported in the context of
encephalitis or encephalopathy, with few reports focussing on lone epilepsy in the outpatient setting. Our aim is to
define the diagnostic clues that might be present in these cases.
Methods:
We performed a retrospective review of all patients presenting to the outpatient department of the
Advances Epilepsy unit who underwent autoimmune screening. All patients with a positive result for an antibody
known to be associated with epilepsy were included.
Results:
63 patients underwent testing. 13 returned a positive result, however only 9 of these were patients which
chronic epilepsy that did not present with an acute illness. Common features in these cases included: Perisylvian
semiology, EEG abnormalities in the mid temporal region, normal or non-specific MRI findings, depression and
head injury.
Significance:
In cases of medically refractory, lesion negative epilepsy, with predominantly perisylvian semiology,
clinicians should have a high level of suspicion for the diagnosis of autoimmune aetiologies, and a low threshold to
perform autoantibody screening. This is especially true if there is a previous history of head injury or co-morbid
depression.
J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 2019, Volume 09