[A case of incomplete Kearns-Sayre syndrome with a stroke like episode]

A 32-year-old woman developed chronic progressive hearing impairment, trunkal ataxia, bilateral ptosis and external ophthalmoplegia. She also showed slowly progressive mild to moderate proximal dominant muscle weakness and atrophy. ECG showed incomplete right bundle branch block. An aerobic exercise test showed abnormal blood lactate elevation and muscle biopsy revealed ragged-red fibers in addition to the myopathic change. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from biopsied muscle and fibroblast samples revealed a 1,758bp deletion from the cytochrome b to ND6 coding regions. Common mutations in tRNALeu(UUR) coding region to the mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) were not present. She was diagnosed as having incomplete Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS). Since the age of 35, she developed complex partial seizure attacks with secondary generalization frequently and at the age of 42, she had a severe generalized seizure with delayed consciousness loss followed by left hemiplegia. MRI showed wide T2-high signal lesions in the right temporo-parieto-occipital area. The proton MR-spectroscopy showed prominent increase of lactate beyond the lesions detected by MRI, indicating diffuse aerobic metabolic dysfunction in the central nervous system. We reviewed two other KSS cases with a stroke like episode, who also had epilepsy and large deletion but no tRNALeu(UUR) mutation, in mitochondrial DNA. Patients with KSS who have seizure may develop the stroke-like episode as seen in MELAS patients.