[Mitochondrial myopathy. Encephalopathy with lactic acidosis and cerebral infarction]

A 21 year-old man presented with a history of sudden onset of aphasia and headache. CT showed a left parietal hypodensity and pallidal calcifications. The ECG showed a Wolff-Parkinson-White's syndrome. The patient then developed successively focal epileptic seizures, temper disorders, a cardiomyopathy, a pepper and salt retinopathy with hemeralopia, a left hemiplegia, deafness, and fever of unexplained origin. Left carotid angiography showed thin, irregular or occluded branches of the middle and anterior cerebral arteries. Blood muscle enzymes, lactate and pyruvate, were elevated with acidosis. Muscle biopsy revealed a mitochondrial myopathy and blood chemistry showed a severe deficiency of respiratory chain enzymes. Death occurred after 28 months. This case showed the diagnostic features of Melas, with some elements of the Kearns-Sayre syndrome. To our knowledge, this is the first case were serial angiographies allowed demonstration of arterial changes capable of explaining cerebral infarctions.