Alpers disease is a progressive neurologic disorder that begins during childhood and is complicated in many instances by serious liver disease. Symptoms include increased muscle tone with exaggerated reflexes (spasticity), seizures, and loss of cognitive ability (dementia).
Alpers disease usually begins during early childhood, usually indicated by seizures at any age between 3 months and 5 years. It is characterized by lack of coordination of motor movement, partial paralysis, seizures, and muscle twitching. The child is unable to achieve normal muscle tone (hypotonia), yet the limbs appear to be stiff. On MRI examination an increased density of the grey matter in the brain is noted. Usually, but not always, Alpers disease is associated with liver damage. Mental retardation may be severe and is progressive. The loss of intellectual functions such as thinking, remembering, and reasoning may also interfere with a person’s daily functioning (dementia). In later stages, patients may lose control of the movement of their arms and legs (spastic quadriplegia). The liver may become cirrhotic and fail completely, or may not progress beyond signs of jaundice. Affected individuals may also become blind as a result of optic atrophy as the optic nerve degenerates.
Many researchers believe that Alpers Syndrome, rather than being a distinct disorder, is a clinical entity (i.e., cerebral gray matter degeneration in association with liver disease) that may be due to a number of different causes. In some cases, it is believed that the syndrome may be inherited as an autosomal recessive genetic trait. In other cases, clinicians attribute the disorder to a prion or prion-like molecule. Some researchers believe that certain individuals may inherit a genetic predisposition for the disorder; in such cases, certain environmental factors in combination with such a genetic predisposition may ultimately result in expression of the disorder. Research has also indicated that certain metabolic defects or mitochondrial abnormalities may play some role in causing the disorder.
Human traits, including the classic genetic diseases, are the product of the interaction of two genes, one received from the father and one from the mother. In recessive disorders, the condition does not appear unless a person inherits the same defective gene for the same trait from each parent. If an individual receives one normal gene and one gene for the disease, the person will be a carrier for the disease, but usually will not show symptoms. The risk of transmitting the disease to the children of a couple, both of whom are carriers for a recessive disorder, is 25 percent. Fifty percent of their children risk being carriers of the disease, but generally will not show symptoms of the disorder. Twenty-five percent of their children may receive both normal genes, one from each parent, and will be genetically normal (for that particular trait). The risk is the same for each pregnancy.
It is thought that Alpers disease affects males and females in equal numbers usually during early childhood. However, some clinicians are convinced that the difficulty of diagnosis makes estimating the frequency of this disorder less accurate. It is probable that Alpers disease affects fewer, than one (1) person per 200,000 of population.
Alpers Syndrome is usually diagnosed during infancy based upon a thorough clinical evaluation, a detailed patient history, and a variety of specialized tests. Such tests may include specialized imaging studies of the brain, which may reveal degeneration of the outer portion (cerebral cortex) and, in some cases, other areas of the brain.
Electroencephalography (EEG), which records the brain's electrical impulses, may reveal an overall slowing of the brain's electrical activity and/or other electrical discharge abnormalities characteristic of seizure activity. Only post mortem confirmation is possible by means of a brain biopsy.
There is no treatments available that will stop the progress of the disease. However, some of the symptoms can be treated in order to make the patient as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. There are drugs available to treat the frequency of the seizures, to cope with muscle spasms and joint pain, and to treat infection.
Physical therapists may be able to help parents to find more comfortable positions for the child while sitting or standing. Massage often reduces the stress involved. All treatment for Alpers Syndrome is symptomatic and supportive.
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FROM THE INTERNET
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