One silence, different clinical pictures
Landau Kleffner Syndrome: Differential diagnosis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25753/BirthGrowthMJ.v31.i2.20611Keywords:
aphasia, auditory verbal agnosia, differential diagnosis, epileptic encephalopathy, Landau Kleffner syndromeAbstract
Landau Kleffner syndrome (LKS) is a rare epileptic encephalopathy characterized by acquired receptive and expressive aphasia and epileptic seizures in a previously normal child. The diagnosis can be challenging and commonly mistaken with other clinical pictures, namely emotional conditions, mainly when identifiable triggers are present in the patient’s history.
The authors present the case of a four-year-old Portuguese girl who moved to China with her parents and sister and started presenting regression of expressive and comprehensive language and behavioral problems around the same time that they changed country. The aim of this study is to document a case of LKS and briefly review the subject, highlighting the complexity of the differential diagnosis.
Downloads
References
Baumer F, Cardon A, Porter B. Language Dysfunction in Pediatric Epilepsy. Journal of Pediatrics. 2018; 194: 13-21.
Tuft M, Arva M, Bjørnvold M, Wilson JA, Nakken KO. Landau-Kleffner syndrome. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2015; 135(22):2061-4.
Malvestio C. Landau-Kleffner Syndrome (LKS): A Rare Childhood Neurological Syndrome. American Journal of Electroneurodiagnostic Technology. 2010; 50:122-32.
Camfield P, Camfield C. Regression in children with epilepsy. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 2019; 96:210-8.
Caraballo R, Cejas N, Chamorro N, Kaltenmeier M, Fortini S, Soprano A. Landau–Kleffner syndrome: A study of 29 patients. Seizure. 2014; 23(2):98-104.
Kaga M, Inagaki M, Ohta R. Epidemiological study of Landau–Kleffner syndrome (LKS) in Japan. Brain & Development. 2014; 36(4):284-6.
Conroy J, Mcgettigan PA, McCreary D, Shah N, Collins K, Parry-Fielder B et al. Towards the identification of a genetic basis for Landau‐Kleffner syndrome. Epilepsia, Official Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy. 2014; 55(6):858-65.
Appendino JP, Appendino JI. Encefalopatías epilépticas determinadas genéticamente. Medicina (Buenos Aires). 2019; 79 (3): 42-7.
Arts WF, Aarsen FL, Boer MS, Catsman-Berrevoets CE. Landau-Kleffner syndrome and CSWS syndrome: treatment with intravenous immunoglobulins. Epilepsia. 2009; 50 (7): 55-58.
World Health Organization. (2018). International classification of diseases for mortality and morbidity statistics (11th Revision). Available at: https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en.
Hua A, Major N. Selective Mutism. Current Opinion Pediatric. 2016; 28(1):114-20.
Levisohn P. Electroencephalography findings in autism: similarities and differences from Landau-Kleffner Syndrome. Seminars Pediatric Neurology. 2004; 11(3):218-24.
Boer M. Guidelines for EEG in encephalopathy related to ESES/CSWS in children. Epilepsia. 2009; 50 (7): 13-7.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Patricia Magalhães, Mafalda Marques, Vânia Martins, Rui Chorão, Sónia Figueiroa

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All articles published in the Birth and Growth Medical Journal are Open Access and meet the requirements of funding agencies and academic institutions. Third-party use of published content is permitted under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license. It is the responsibility of authors to obtain permission for reproducing figures, tables, or other materials from previously published works.
Authors must submit a Conflict of Interest statement and an Authorship Form together with their manuscript. A confirmation email will be sent to the corresponding author upon receipt of the submission. Authors are also permitted to deposit their articles in institutional or personal repositories, provided that the original publication in the Birth and Growth Medical Journal is clearly indicated and the terms of the Creative Commons license are respected.