Torsion dystonia and myoclonus in 2 brothers

The authors have considered the incidence of familial factors in different kinds of epilepsy observed in epileptic patients under treatment by the Epilepsy Study Centre of the Clinic of Nervous and Mental Diseases of the University of Bologna. The familal factors were revealed to be a particularly important element with a high incidence in primary generalized epilepsy, intermediary generalized epilepsy, benign epilepsy of childhood with rolandic spikes, and in febrile convulsions. Concerning partial epilepsy, the authors suppose that an hereditary partial epilepsy may exist. It was found that in epilepsy only one member of a family is suffering from seizures, while in febrile convulsions one or more members of the same family may be affected. The maternal line is more often affected than the paternal one, except the epilepsy with rolandic spikes in which the paternal line is more often affected. A clinical correlation between proband epilepsy and epilepsy of the family member exists in primary generalized epilepsy, in benign epilepsy of childhood and in febrile convulsions, but it is very uncommon in partial epilepsy. The authors conclude that a probable risk must be held in due consideration when a family suffers from a form of idiopathic epilepsy.