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 symptomato-logical 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.