Epilepsia mioclónica benigna del lactante: un caso curioso

Abstract

Benign myoclonic epilepsy in infants is a rare condition that belongs to the group of epilepsies and generalised epileptic syndromes. Doubts have recently arisen as to whether it is really benign, with some reports of cases of compromised psychomotor development when therapy is started late. The differential diagnosis can be associated with epileptic and non-epileptic diseases, and it is important to preclude it from the former due to their severity. Lombroso and Fejerman's benign myocloni are the non-epileptic diseases that create most problems as far as the differential diagnosis is concerned. Congenital defects of the cranial vault are quite rare and are sometimes associated with other malformations. Exceptionally they appear in isolation, and familial cases have been reported. Here we describe the case of a female infant, who had been subject to a follow-up in the Children's Neurology department from the age of 7 months and who had been diagnosed as suffering from unspecific bone erosion of the cranial vault and benign myoclonic epilepsy in infants. Psychomotor development has taken place within the range of parameters that can be considered to be normal and the patient is currently 25 months old. From the clinical point of view, in this case we can rule out the most severe epileptic situations. This is a clinical case that is atypical, not only because of the coexistence of two rare diagnoses, but also due to the clinical features and electroencephalographic manifestations. Both situations are very uncommon and there is no apparent relationship between them.