A proposito di due sorelle con Epilessia Parziale Idiopatica (EPI) = Regarding two sisters affected by Idiopathic Partial Epilepsy

Two sisters, 21 and 11 years old, are affected with Idiopathic Partial Epilepsy. Both of them present a normal neurological examination, absence of intellectual deficit and cerebral lesions documented neuroradiologically. They have a family history of idiopathic partial epilepsy. In both coexist clinical and electroencephalographic manifestations characteristic of Benign partial epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BETCS) and/or Idiopathic occipital lobe epilepsies. In particoular: the youngest sister begin, at the age of 4, with a typical picture of Idiopathic occipital lobe epilepsy (early onset) and then, around the age of 8, develops into BECTS. The oldest sister begin, at the age of 7, with typical seizures of BECTS. Around the age of 11, she presents seizures with visual ictal symptoms (phosphenes) and headache, sometimes triggered by photic stimuli (TV), The EEG shows a photosensitivity, seldom with concomitant clinical manifestations. This characteristics remind on the one hand to the Idiopathic occipital lobe epilpsy (late onset), on the other to the Benign photosensitive occipital lobe epilepsy. The two reported cases could support the hypotesis of common genetic factors, with different expressivity, in the different forms of Idiopathic partial epilepsies.