[Myoclonic cerebellar dyssynergia (Ramsay-Hunt syndrome) and cerebellar telangiectasia]

Abstract

A 8 year-old girl presented with generalized epileptic seizures followed by the progressive onset of myoclonic jerks, sometimes associated with willed movements, and a static and kinetic cerebellar syndrome without conspicuous intellectual impairment. Death occurred 10 years after the onset of the disorders. There was no family history. Neuropathological studies showed lesions confined to the cerebellum. Diffuse and bilateral telangiectases were present in the cerebellar white matter. They were associated with patchy cortical alterations of the distal parts of some folia involving mainly the granule-cells ans sparing the Purkinje cells. No Lafora bodies and no abnormal lipofuscin storage were observed. The dentate nuclei, superior cerebellar peduncles and red nuclei were normal as were the inferior olives and inferior cerebellar peduncles. The spino-cerebellar tracts were unaffected. This case confirms the hypothesis that dyssynergia cerebellaris myoclonica corresponds only to a clinical entity. It may be encountered in various degenerative or metabolic disorders involving the cerebellum and/or its pathways. To our knowledge the association of a Ramsay Hunt syndrome with a vascular malformation has not been previously reported.