¹Department of Pediatrics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

²Department of Neurology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

³Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

⁴Department of Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

⁵Department of Neurosurgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

Correspondence to: Dr N L Antunes, Department of Pediatrics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021, USA

Epilepsia partialis continua (EPC) is a condition defined by prolonged focal myoclonus. Often resistant to therapy, EPC in children is frequently present in Rasmussen encephalitis, a form of chronic encephalitis of uncertain etiology. We discuss a child who developed bilateral EPC 5 months after a bone marrow transplant. Neuroimaging studies showed signal abnormalities on both sensory-motor areas. An extensive search failed to reveal the etiology of the disorder, but treatment with a broad-spectrum anti-viral agent was associated with resolution of the process. An unidentified infectious agent may be responsible for an encephalitis of the motor strip in immunosuppressed patients. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2000) 26, 917-919.

epilepsia partialis continua; bone marrow transplant; encephalitis