Bilateral temporal lobe epilepsy in a patient with Turner syndrome mosaicism

Turner Syndrome Associated With Refractory Seizures and Intellectual Disability: A Case Study

Turner syndrome (TS) is the most frequent sex abnormality in women. The physical features include short stature, webbing of the neck, and gonadal dysgenesis. Typically, patients with Turner syndrome exhibit no intellectual disability, and a few cases of TS have been associated with epilepsy. Herein, we present a case of TS with intractable epilepsy. The patient presented with global developmental delay at the age of two and karyotyping revealed mosaicism [45, X/46, X del (X) (q21.1)]. At the age of seven, she had generalized tonic epilepsy as well as several focal-onset seizures. She developed daily seizures, which were refractory to several antiepileptic drugs. Interictal electroencephalography (EEG) revealed multifocal spikes, and ictal EEG revealed shifting foci. She visited our hospital at the age of 13. Her peripheral white blood cells G-band and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method chromosome with cheek swab examinations revealed 45, X. Her peripheral white blood cell mosaic pattern may have disappeared over time or become indetectable. We treated her with clobazam, and then lamotrigine and valproic acid combination therapy, which resulted in a reduction in the frequency of seizures by approximately 50%. Epilepsy and intellectual disability in this case may be due to the mosaic deletion at Xq21.1. Further analysis of similar cases may provide valuable information for effective therapeutic strategies.

Prevalence of diverse complications and its association with karyotypes in Japanese adult women with Turner syndrome-a questionnaire survey by the Foundation for Growth Science

The reported prevalence of complications in Turner Syndrome (TS) was highly variable because of the rarity and the limited numbers analyzed. Again, possible presence of other complications that are not described as specific for TS, is also speculated. To resolve these issues, a questionnaire survey was conducted in hGH treated 492 patients with adult TS (17-42 years). The possible association with these complications and karyotypes were also analyzed. The complications and their prevalence were as follows: chronic thyroiditis (25.2%), inflammatory bowel disease (1.8%), congenital cardiovascular anomaly (11.8%), urinary tract malformation (11.8%), low bone mineral density (BMD) (42.9%), scoliosis (8.4%), hearing loss (6.2%), epilepsy (2.8%) and schizophrenia (0.9%). The majority of prevalence of these diseases in TS was higher than in the general population. In distribution, the most frequent karyotype was 45,X monosomy (28.9%), followed by 45,X/46,X,Xi (16.9%), 46,X,Xi (9.1%), and 45,X/46,XX (6.3%), while other mosaic 45,X was noted in 29.9%. Regarding the karyotype, cardiovascular anomaly was more frequent in the 45,X group and less in the 46,X,Xi group. Urinary tract malformation and epilepsy were frequently associated with the chromosome 45,X. The prevalence of low BMD was noticed more in the chromosome 46,X,Xi and 45,X/46,X,Xi, and less in other mosaic 45,X. In conclusion, the more exact prevalence of diverse complications was clarified and it exceeded the prevalence of the majority of complications in general population. As novel findings, it was observed that the prevalence of epilepsy was significantly high, and epilepsy and low BMD were frequently associated with the specific karyotypes.

Chiari I Malformation Associated with Turner Syndrome

Turner syndrome (TS) is a rare genetic disease due to the absence of one X chromosome. Patients with TS have more subtle neurological/neuropsychiatric problems, while headache is an uncommon clinical presentation which needs attention. We report a 12-year-old child presenting with typical cough headache. Her magnetic resonance imaging revealed Chiari I malformation associated with TS. To the best of our knowledge, Chiari I malformation associated with TS is not described in literature. We report the first case of TS associated with Chiari I malformation. Interestingly, Chiari I malformation is also associated with Noonan's syndrome, which is a close morphological mimicker of TS, raising the possibility of sharing similar pathogenesis in both conditions.

Generalized epilepsy in a patient with mosaic Turner syndrome: a case report

INTRODUCTION

Reports on cases of epilepsy in Turner syndrome are rare and most of them have cortical developmental malformations. We report the case of a Taiwanese patient with mosaic Turner syndrome with generalized tonic-clonic epilepsy and asymmetrical lateral ventricles but no apparent cortical anomaly.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 49-year-old Taiwanese woman without family history presented with infrequent generalized tonic-clonic epilepsy since she was 11 years old. On examination, her short stature, webbed neck, swelling of hands and feet, retrognathic face, and mild intellectual disability were noted. She had spontaneous menarche and regular menses. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed asymmetrical lateral ventricles and diffuse subcortical white matter T2-weighted hyperintensities. Chromosome studies disclosed low aneuploid (10%) 45,X/46,XX/47,XXX mosaic Turner syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS

There is increasing evidence that epilepsy can be an uncommon presentation of Turner syndrome. Mosaic Turner syndrome with 47, XXX probably increases the risk of epilepsy but more research is needed to reach a conclusion. This case also strengthens our knowledge that Turner syndrome can be one of the pathologic bases of asymmetrical lateral ventricles. When a patient has idiopathic/cryptogenic epilepsy or asymmetrical lateral ventricles on brain images, the presence of a mild Turner phenotype warrants further chromosome studies.

Turner syndrome: review of clinical, neuropsychiatric, and EEG status: an experience of tertiary center

We reviewed the clinical, neuropsychiatric, and EEG status of 53 turner syndrome (TS) females, aged 3-16 years, in Assiut university hospitals, Upper Egypt. The diagnosis and care of patients with TS in Egypt is still in the developing stage. Hence this study was undertaken to review the details of patients with TS with respect to the pattern of cognitive, psychiatric, and motor dysfunction. We aimed to provide a comprehensive data about the experience of our center comparable to previous studies, which have been published in this field. This will contribute to a better definition of the neuropsychiatric features that may be specific to TS that allows early and better detection and management of these cases. We found FSIQ and verbal IQ that seem to be at a nearly normal level and a decreased performance IQ. ADHD and autistic symptoms were found in 20.70 and 3.77 % of our cohort, respectively. The motor performance in TS was disturbed, with some neurological deficits present in 17 % (reduced muscle tone and reduced muscle power). In addition, females with TS in our study exhibit social and emotional problems, including anxiety (5.66 %) and depression (11.30 %). The EEG results revealed abnormalities in seven patients (13.20 %). One patient presenting with generalized tonic-clonic seizures showed generalized epileptiform activity, and six patients presenting with intellectual disabilities showed abnormal EEG background activity.

Gonadoblastoma: Case report of two young patients with isochromosome 12p found in the dysgerminoma overgrowth component in one case

Gonadoblastomas are unusual neoplasias that frequently appear in the dysgenetic gonads of women with chromosome Y anomaly. We present two cases of gonadoblastoma associated with complete gonadal dysgenesis and Turner syndrome, respectively, with dysgerminoma overgrowth found in one case. We were interested in the DNA ploidy, the presence of Y chromosome DNA sequence and the status of chromosome 12p arm among the tumor cells. We performed cytophotometry to analyze the DNA content and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to identify the Y chromosome and the isochromosome 12p within the tumor cells. The cytophotometric result showed diploid DNA content in gonadoblastoma, whereas dysgerminoma revealed aneuploid DNA. The FISH result revealed Y chromosome DNA sequence within gonadoblastoma and dysgerminoma. Isochromosome 12p was identified in dysgerminoma, but not in gonadoblastoma. We conclude that gonadoblastoma and dysgerminoma have a strong association with the Y chromosome, and dysgerminoma overgrowth is due to further chromosomal aberrations, such as isochromosome 12p. Histological, immunohistocheimcal and molecular studies should render the correct diagnosis. Identifying dysgerminoma overgrowth is crucial since it is associated with adverse prognosis and requires additional therapy.