One-year-old girl diagnosed with rare neurological disorder called ‘Dancing eye syndrome' in Guntur

New Delhi: A one-year-old girl named Navya has been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called ‘Dancing eye syndrome’ by the doctors of Government General Hospital (GGH) in Guntur.

The disease is also known as Opsoclonus Myoclonus Syndrome or Kinsbourne disease.

The toddler was brought to the hospital just days before her first birthday on July 15.

According to a report in Deccan Chronical, Prof NV Sundarachary, Head of Department of Neurology said the little girl used to walk, jump and play, but due to sudden changes in her eyes and body, she was taken to pediatricians and got her investigated with CT scan and EEG, presuming it to be seizures. But the reports were normal.

He added that she was prescribed multivitamins and anti-seizure drugs, but it wasn’t helping.

When she was brought to the Neurology Department, the child didn’t have fever, was conscious and fretful. She was found to have jerky multi-dimensional rapid conjugate eye movements. When she was made to stand, she was unsteady and unable to stand even with a support.

After thorough examination, it was detected that she was affected by a rare neurological disorder.

As per the reports, Dr Sundarachary mentioned that Kinsbourne disease was extremely rare with an incidence of one in one crore. He explained that it is caused due to antibody attack on purkinje cells of cerebellum, which is meant for balance while standing, walking and also for stability and control of eye movements. These antibodies are called ‘Anti Ri’, which can be detected in the blood. A thorough search for neuroblastoma by scan is essential.

A number of drugs are available to treat this rare condition. CSF examination and MRI brain scan are essential to exclude other mimicking conditions like acute cerebellitis, which is an infection of cerebellum.

The one-year-old baby girl is currently undergoing treatment in the GGH.