Rasmussen's syndrome: longitudinal EEG study from the first seizure to epilepsia partialis continua.

PURPOSE: The aim of our work was to describe the initial electroencephalographic characteristics of Rasmussen's syndrome (RS).

METHODS

We performed repeated EEG recordings in an 11-year 5-month-old girl affected by RS, as demonstrated through the progressive evolution of the illness. All EEGs were carried out in polygraphy and videorecordered, both in waking and in sleep.

RESULTS

In our opinion, our patient's EEG picture is absolutely unusual in childhood partial epilepsy form without any neuroradiologic perturbation. Delta focal activity persistence in such a clinical context should be considered an RS sign, among the possible causes.

CONCLUSIONS

We are not aware of any early-stage RS EEG description. We think that the initial RS EEG picture is so unusual as to suggest such pathology. We hope that analogous reports can confirm our belief.