Limited chronic focal encephalitis: another variant of Rasmussen syndrome?

To describe a more limited and less malignant form of Rasmussen encephalitis (RE).

Three subjects (all women; 37, 31, and 32 years of age) developed childhood or late onset chronic focal encephalitis, with a relatively nonprogressive form of the disorder.

In our patients, clinical features were dominated by partial seizures without marked focal motor deficit and in two with choreo-dystonic movements. The diagnosis of RE was supported by histologic examination and anatomic and functional MRI.

These cases extend the phenotypic presentations of Rasmussen encephalitis and confirm Theodore Rasmussen's suggestion that there may be mild and nonprogressive forms of the disease.