Agenesis of the Internal Carotid Artery Associated with Generalized Epilepsy

Agenesis of the internal carotid artery (ICA) is a rare congenital malformation, with approximately 150 cases having been described. In rare cases it has been linked to seizures. We report a case of earlier-onset epilepsy in which the diagnosis of agenesis of ICA was incidentally performed during brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We suggest that the symptoms of the present patient were related to a brain perfusion disorder and played a role in the genesis of the mild mental retardation. We therefore recommend performing Doppler ultrasound and cerebral CT angiography in patients with idiopathic epilepsy and negative MRI findings.