2024 Volume 16 Issue 1 Pages 44-53
Background: Transient epileptic amnesia (TEA) is a special type of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy manifesting recurrent amnesia attacks as the main symptom. Patients with TEA often demonstrate two other types of memory symptoms: accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) and autobiographical amnesia (AbA). In our previous reports, we presented two clinical cases in which the patients showed symptoms of ALF and/or AbA without any type of epileptic seizure, including TEA attacks. Based on these cases and a literature search, we proposed a new clinical entity, which we named ‘transient epileptic amnesia complex syndrome (TEACS)’. We also proposed a new type of neurocognitive disorder, which we named ‘epileptic cognitive impairment resembling Alzheimer's disease (ECI-A)’.
Methods and Results: The clinical profiles and characteristics of three cases of TEACS and one case of ECI-A are presented. Based on the clinical courses of these cases, pathological hypotheses regarding TEACS and ECI-A are discussed, and the importance of clearly recognizing a new concept in epileptology is emphasized.
Discussion: We consider that at least two non-paroxysmal and chronic epilepsy-related disorders (TEACS and ECI-A) exist. The two disorders are considered to be caused by continual excessive neuronal discharges that are not sufficient to give rise to clinical seizures. The establishment of these new entities would open up therapeutic possibilities for such non-paroxysmal and chronic epilepsy-related disorders.
