What are the symptoms of Lafora disease ?
What are the signs and symptoms of Lafora disease? The signs and symptoms of Lafora disease generally appear during late childhood or adolescence. Prior to the onset of symptoms, affected children appear to have normal development although some may have isolated febrile or nonfebrile convulsions in infancy or early childhood. The most common feature of Lafora disease is recurrent seizures. Several different types of seizures have been reported including generalized tonic-clonic seizures, occipital seizures (which can cause temporary blindness and visual hallucinations) and myoclonic seizures. These seizures are considered "progressive" because they generally become worse and more difficult to treat over time. With the onset of seizures, people with Lafora disease often begin showing signs of cognitive decline. This may include behavioral changes, depression, confusion, ataxia (difficulty controlling muscles), dysarthria, and eventually, dementia. By the mid-twenties, most affected people lose the ability to perform the activities of daily living; have continuous myoclonus; and require tube feeding and comprehensive care. The Human Phenotype Ontology provides the following list of signs and symptoms for Lafora disease. If the information is available, the table below includes how often the symptom is seen in people with this condition. You can use the MedlinePlus Medical Dictionary to look up the definitions for these medical terms. Signs and Symptoms Approximate number of patients (when available) Abnormality of metabolism/homeostasis - Absence seizures - Apraxia - Autosomal recessive inheritance - Bilateral convulsive seizures - Cutaneous photosensitivity - Dementia - Gait disturbance - Generalized myoclonic seizures - Generalized tonic-clonic seizures - Hepatic failure - Heterogeneous - Myoclonus - Progressive neurologic deterioration - Psychosis - Rapidly progressive - Visual auras - Visual hallucinations - Visual loss - The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) has collected information on how often a sign or symptom occurs in a condition. Much of this information comes from Orphanet, a European rare disease database. The frequency of a sign or symptom is usually listed as a rough estimate of the percentage of patients who have that feature. The frequency may also be listed as a fraction. The first number of the fraction is how many people had the symptom, and the second number is the total number of people who were examined in one study. For example, a frequency of 25/25 means that in a study of 25 people all patients were found to have that symptom. Because these frequencies are based on a specific study, the fractions may be different if another group of patients are examined. Sometimes, no information on frequency is available. In these cases, the sign or symptom may be rare or common.