RAY OF NEW HOPES!

An 8-year-old girl was suffering from Epilepsy since the age of 2 years. She uses to have jerky movements of body, a brief confusional state and falls while standing. Gradually the frequency of these attacks increased to 40- 50 per day.

Her parents consulted many paediatricians and neurologists at various places in Rajasthan and Gujarat, however, there was no relief. Due to the risk of falls and injuries, their parents stopped sending her to school.

Her overall mental ability also got compromised. She was finally seen by a neurosurgeon in Udaipur, who referred her to the neurologist and epileptologist Dr Anis Jukkarwala in Geetanjali hospital. DrJukkarwala and his team which included Dr Mandar, Dr Shasidhar, Dr Pradeep and Rahul examined this child in detail and then performed Video-EEG to record her seizures (which is depicted in the photograph) below. Based on the clinical history and video-EEG, they diagnosed her to be a case of a rare epileptic disease popularly called “Tassinari syndrome”. This disease was first described by an Italian neurologist named Carlo Alberto Tassinari, hence its name. It’s a rare disease that mostly affects young children and is characterized by jerky movements of the body and absence spells.

There may be 50-100 such episodes per day and video EEG plays a pivotal role by showing the typical 3 per second spikes which helps to diagnose it with certainty. Our patient became completely seizurefree after starting a combination of valproate and lamotrigine. Not only this but her intellectual performance also improved. This case underscores the fact that ‘correct diagnosis and treatment in Epilepsy may positively impact a person’s life.