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Neuropediatrics 1989; 20(3): 170-172
DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1071285
Case report

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

The Landau-Kleffner Syndrome - Case Report and Theoretical Considerations*

B.J. J. Ansink1 , H.  Sarphatie1 , H. R. van Dongen2
  • 1Sint Lucas Ziekenhuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • 2Academic Hospital "Dijkzigt", Rotterdam, The Netherlands
* This study was presented partially at the meeting of the Dutch Society of Child Neurology in the Hague, 15 April 1988.
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Publication Date:
19 March 2008 (online)

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Abstract

The Landau-Kleffner syndrome is an acquired condition in children consisting of aphasia and epileptic discharges in the EEG with or without clinical manifestation of epilepsy. We describe a case of a very young child whose neurologic and language development before onset of the illness was uniquely well documented. Apart from her aphasia she showed several other disturbances of higher cortical functions in the acute phase of the illness.

No anatomical basis has been discovered for this disease till the present day. We discuss the possibility of an electrical dysregulation in several parts of the cortex as a pathophysiological basis for this syndrome.

Key words

Childhood aphasia - Epilepsy - Cortical word deafness - Optic agnosia