EEG-confirmed epileptic activity in a cat with VGKC-complex/LGI1 antibody-associated limbic encephalitis.

Abstract

A 5-year-old, female client-owned cat presented with acute onset of focal epileptic seizures with orofacial twitching and behavioural changes. Magnetic resonance imaging showed bilateral temporal lobe hyperintensities and the EEG was consistent with ictal epileptic seizure activity. After antiepileptic and additional corticosteroid treatment, the cat recovered and by 10 months of follow-up was seizure-free without any problem. Retrospectively, antibodies to LGI1, a component of the voltage-gated potassium channel-complex, were identified. Feline focal seizures with orofacial involvement have been increasingly recognised in client-owned cats, and autoimmune limbic encephalitis was recently suggested as a possible aetiology. This is the first report of EEG, MRI and long-term follow-up of this condition in cats which is similar to human limbic encephalitis.

• Authors: Akos Pakozdy, Ursula Glantschnigg, Michael Leschnik, Harald Hechinger, Teresa Moloney, Bethan Lang, Peter Halasz, Angela Vincent
• Journal: Epileptic disorders : international epilepsy journal with videotape (Epileptic Disord) Vol. 16 Issue 1 Pg. 116-20 (Mar 2014) ISSN: 1294-9361 [Print] United States
• PMID: 24667692 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated

Topics

• Animals
• Autoimmune Diseases (complications, diagnosis, immunology, physiopathology)
• Cats
• Electroencephalography (methods)
• Epilepsy (etiology, immunology, physiopathology)
• Female
• Limbic Encephalitis (complications, diagnosis, immunology, physiopathology)
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (methods)
• Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated (immunology)
• Seizures (etiology, immunology, physiopathology)