People with learning disabilities often have seizures in addition to other disorders. Precise diagnosis may be difficult, but accuracy can be improved using electroencephalographic and video investigations. Following the establishment of a diagnosis of epilepsy, individually tailored care is necessary taking into account other health, behavioural and therapeutic issues. Neuroimaging may indicate a need for surgery which should not be automatically excluded as a treatment option. Rational antiepileptic drug use is advised, with emphasis upon the newer agents due to their better tolerance and ease of use. A programme of regular review will prevent over-medicating. Drug therapy may be withdrawn in a seizure-free patient. Realistic goals should be established for each individual coupled with an optimistic approach to care. However, future developments require a solid evidence base combined with rationality in all aspects of management. The community learning disability epilepsy nurse specialist is the key health-care professional who can ensure that a learning disabled individual with epilepsy is able to take full advantage of all available services. Education, closer collaboration and the mutual recognition of skills will ensure more cohesive and comprehensive care for this disadvantaged patient population.

Epilepsy and learning disabilities—a challenge for the next millennium?

Treatment of Seizures in Patients with Learning Disabilities

Summary
Purpose

Interest in the association of epilepsy and pseudobulbar palsy was rekindled since the identification through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (PMG). Seizures are often intractable, but resective epilepsy surgery has not been recommended. However, a similar clinical picture can be encountered in patients with bilateral perisylvian destructive lesions, which fit the description of ulegyria (ULG). We report a series of patients with epilepsy and pseudobulbar palsy due to bilateral perisylvian ULG (BP-ULG), show that hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is often associated and highlight the fact that in this entity, unlike in malformative bilateral perisylvian PMG, seizures may be surgically treated.



Methods

The motor, cognitive, epileptologic, and imaging features of 12 patients with perisylvian ULG followed at three institutions are described. For patients with refractory seizures, we detail extracranial and intracranial electrographic recordings, surgical strategies, histopathologic analyses of the resected tissue, and outcome of surgical treatment. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative and categorical variables. Student's t-test was used to compare means, and a p < 0.05 was considered significant.



Key Findings

Pseudobulbar palsy and mental retardation were present in all patients with symmetrical BP-ULG. Five had refractory seizures. There was no relationship between the severity of the pseudobulbar palsy or of the mental retardation and the degree of seizure control with medication. The five patients in whom seizures were refractory to medication had significantly earlier age of onset and longer duration of epilepsy (p < 0.05). Dual pathology with associated unilateral HS was present in four. One patient with dual pathology had a temporolimbic electroclinical picture and had an anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) based upon noninvasive evaluation. The other four had ictal semiology suggesting involvement of both temporolimbic and perisylvian cortex. Intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) showed concomitant seizure onset in the anterior temporal region and in the ipsilateral ULG in three of the four with dual pathology and in the ulegyric cortex in the one without HS. Resection guided by a combination of semiology, MRI, and extra and intracranial EEG led to complete seizure control in two and almost complete seizure control (Engel class II) in two other patients. The only surgical failure was an isolated ATL in a patient with dual pathology, and concomitant seizure onset in both lesions according to semiology and intracranial EEG.



Significance

Our findings suggest that BP-ULG mimics the clinical features of bilateral perisylvian PMG. In patients with refractory seizures, recognition of this entity should lead to consideration of resective surgery despite the bilateral ULG.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/epi.12160

Bilateral perisylvian ulegyria: An under-recognized, surgically remediable epileptic syndrome

Structural abnormalities related with pseudobulbar palsy have been gaining attention because of their characteristic symptoms and unique pathogenesis. We present five cases of bilateral perisylvian ulegyria (BPU) presenting epilepsy and pseudobulbar palsy with pathogenesis different from previously reported syndromes. All patients showed medically intractable seizures, complex partial seizures with secondary generalization and clinical symptoms of pseudobulbar palsy, including dysarthria, limitation of tongue movement and drooling. MRI revealed BPU in all patients, and BPU associated with hippocampal sclerosis in four patients. Intracranial EEG recording with subdural grip and stripe was helpful for localizing the area of ictal generation. Resective surgeries, including the temporal lobe, central area and parietal lobe, were performed depending on the localizing information. The surgical outcome was favorable after 9.8 years of follow-up. Characteristic features of ulegyria were confirmed on pathological examination. Ulegyria is considered to be another important perinatal or postnatal structural abnormality which can explain the etiological heterogeneity for pseudobulbar palsy, which results from bilateral perisylvian lesions. Awareness of this disorder can provide a useful strategy for evaluation and treatment which differs from that in perisylvian polymicrogyria.

Bilateral perisylvian ulegyria: clinicopathological study of patients presenting with pseudobulbar palsy and epilepsy.

Aim We aimed to systematically review the speech production, language, and oral function phenotype of bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (BPP), and examine the correlation between the topography of polymicrogyria and the severity of speech, language, and oral functional impairment. Method A systematic search of MEDLINE, Embase, and PubMed databases was completed on 26th October 2017 using Medical Subject Heading terms synonymous with BPP and speech, language, or oral motor impairment. In total, 2411 papers were identified and 48 met inclusion criteria. Results Expressive and receptive language impairment and oral structural and functional deficits are frequent in BPP. Expressive deficits are frequently more severe than receptive. Only one study used formal assessments to demonstrate the presence of speech disorder, namely dysarthria. Seven studies reported an association between diffuse BPP and more severe language impairment. Interpretation Findings confirmed that language deficits are common in BPP, though assessment of the specific speech phenotype is limited. The paucity of high quality studies detailing the specific communication phenotype of BPP highlights the need for further investigation. Improving understanding of this phenotype will inform the development of targeted therapies and lead to better long-term outcomes. What this paper adds Speech, language, and oral functional impairments are common in individuals with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria. Posterior polymicrogyria is associated with a less severe language impairment than anterior polymicrogyria. Deeper investigation of speech is needed to understand implicated networks in this malformation.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/dmcn.14153

Speech and language in bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria: a systematic review.

The advent of MRI technique has enabled the diagnosis of neuronal migration disorders(NMD) and made it possible to make "in vivo" diagnosis. Congenital bilateral perisylvian syndrome(CBPS) is a recently described disease identify characterized by pseudobulbar palsy, epilepsy, mental retardation, and migration disorders in the bilateral perisylvian area. We have identified four CBPS patients based on neuroimaging and dysarthria patterns among the candidates for epilepsy surgery. All the patients had orofacial diplegia and variable degrees of mental retardation. In the spectrographic analysis of dysarthria, the loss of specific characteristics of formants of vowels and increment of noise in the high frequency formants were observed. Epilepsy was present in all, but only one patient showed intractable seizure requiring surgical intervention. MRI was most helpful in identifying NMD and polymicrogyria in both centroparietal areas in this context. Great alertness is needed to identify this disorder to determine the etiology of epilepsy and dysarthria of uncertain origin.

/pdf/congenital-bilateral-perisylvian-syndrome-analysis-of-the-2ls5bh8ykj.pdf

Jung Chung Lee

Papers

Congenital bilateral perisylvian syndrome: analysis of the first four reported Korean patients

Selective Posterior Rhizotomy(SPR) for Treatment of Spasticity in the Patient with Cerebral Palsy.