Epilepsy with bilateral occipital calcifications: Sturge-Weber variant or a different encephalopathy?

• Published in: Epilepsia (Copenhagen) Vol. 34; no. 3; p. 528
• Main Authors: Tiacci, C, D'Alessandro, P, Cantisani, T A, Piccirilli, M, Signorini, E, Pelli, M A, Cavalletti, M L, Castellucci, G, Palmeri, S, Battisti, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.05.1993
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Brain Diseases - complications; Brain Diseases - diagnosis; Calcinosis - complications; Calcinosis - diagnosis; Celiac Disease - complications; Celiac Disease - pathology; Child; Diagnosis, Differential; Duodenum - pathology; Electroencephalography; Epilepsy - complications; Epilepsy - diagnosis; Female; Functional Laterality; Humans; Intestinal Mucosa - pathology; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Male; Sleep - physiology; Sturge-Weber Syndrome - complications; Sturge-Weber Syndrome - diagnosis; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Wakefulness - physiology
• ISSN: 0013-9580
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1993.tb02592.x

A series of cases of epilepsy with associated bilateral occipital calcifications (EBOC) without signs of phakomatosis and without any disorders known to produce cerebral calcifications have been reported. It is unclear whether EBOC is an incomplete variant of Sturge-Weber disease (SWD) or if it is a different, as yet undefined encephalopathy. We describe four new cases of EBOC that are different clinically by age of onset, type, course, severity of epilepsy, and associated cognitive deficits but that are linked by similar neuroradiologic findings. Similar to cases described in the literature, there is convincing evidence in favor of the hypothesis that these cases belong to an encephalopathy different from SWD and frequently associated with celiac disease.