A case of musicogenic epilepsy with high level of anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies

Abstract

Musicogenic epilepsy is an extremely rare type of reflex epilepsy triggered by listening to music. A 27-year-old woman began to recognize auras of déjà-vu approximately once a month when listening to a ballad since she was 23 years of age. She experienced a total of 5 episodes of aura followed by tonic-clonic seizure, and was referred to our department. We strongly suspected the patient as having musicogenic epilepsy based on electroencephalography findings and symptomatological features, although there were no obviously abnormal findings on cephalic magnetic resonance imaging performed during the interval between seizures. The seizures were controlled by antiepileptic drug. Type 1 diabetes mellitus with a high level of anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD-ab) developed approximately 3 years after epilepsy onset, which resulted in triggering of the aura without listening to music.