Familial partial epilepsy with variable foci: A new partial epilepsy syndrome with suggestion of linkage to chromosome 2
Corresponding Author
Dr. Ingrid E. Scheffer FRACP
Department of Neurology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), and University of Melbourne
Department of Neurology, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Department of Neurosciences, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne
Department of Neurology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), Victoria 3084, AustraliaSearch for more papers by this authorHilary A. Phillips BSc
Centre for Medical Genetics, Department of Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorCatherine E. O'Brien MA
Department of Neuropsychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), and University of Melbourne
Search for more papers by this authorMichael M. Saling PhD
Department of Neuropsychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), and University of Melbourne
Search for more papers by this authorJacqueline A. Wrennall MSc
Department of Psychology, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Search for more papers by this authorRobyn H. Wallace BSc(Hons)
Centre for Medical Genetics, Department of Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorJohn C. Mulley PhD
Centre for Medical Genetics, Department of Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorSamuel F. Berkovic FRACP
Department of Neurology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), and University of Melbourne
Department of Neurology, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Dr. Ingrid E. Scheffer FRACP
Department of Neurology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), and University of Melbourne
Department of Neurology, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Department of Neurosciences, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne
Department of Neurology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), Victoria 3084, AustraliaSearch for more papers by this authorHilary A. Phillips BSc
Centre for Medical Genetics, Department of Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorCatherine E. O'Brien MA
Department of Neuropsychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), and University of Melbourne
Search for more papers by this authorMichael M. Saling PhD
Department of Neuropsychology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), and University of Melbourne
Search for more papers by this authorJacqueline A. Wrennall MSc
Department of Psychology, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Search for more papers by this authorRobyn H. Wallace BSc(Hons)
Centre for Medical Genetics, Department of Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorJohn C. Mulley PhD
Centre for Medical Genetics, Department of Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics, Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorSamuel F. Berkovic FRACP
Department of Neurology, Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg (Melbourne), and University of Melbourne
Department of Neurology, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Familial partial epilepsy with variable foci (FPEVF) joins the recently recognized group of inherited partial epilepsies. We describe an Australian family with 10 individuals with partial seizures over four generations. Detailed electroclinical studies were performed on all affected and 17 clinically unaffected family members. The striking finding was that the clinical features of the seizures and interictal electroencephalographic foci differed among family members and included frontal, temporal, occipital, and centroparietal seizures. Mean age of seizure onset was 13 years (range, 0.75–43 years). Two individuals without seizures had epileptiform abnormalities on electroencephalographic studies. Penetrance of seizures was 62%. A genome-wide search failed to demonstrate definitive linkage, but a suggestion of linkage was found on chromosome 2q with a LOD score of 2.74 at recombination fraction of zero with the marker D2S133. FPEVF differs from the other inherited partial epilepsies where partial seizures in different family members are clinically similar. The inherited nature of this new syndrome may be overlooked because of relatively low penetrance and because of the variability in age at onset and electroclinical features between affected family members.
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