A case of epilepsia partialis continua accompanied by series of partial seizures

A Japanese girl with epilepsia partialis continua (EPC) accompanied by series of partial seizures is reported. She developed EPC at age 5 months, and during the ensueing month, she also developed a series of partial seizures consisting of flexion of the right elbow and rotation of the neck to the right in series at intervals of 8-10 seconds for a period of 10 minutes. The series of seizures resembled periodic spasms (PS) first described by Gobbi et al. in 1987, but differed from PS because of its focal manifestations and ictal EEG showing unilateral high voltage slow waves over the contralateral hemisphere. In EPC, such a peculiar series of partial seizures has not been previously described. However a series of partial seizures can be coexistent with EPC, because EPC and series of partial seizures are both based on cortical epileptic abnormality.