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Start free with EleplanFamilial focal epilepsy with variable foci
ORPHA:98820Disease
Also called FFEVF · Familial partial epilepsy with variable foci
What it is
Familial focal epilepsy with variable foci is a rare genetic epilepsy disorder characterized by autosomal dominant lesional and nonlesional focal epilepsy with variable penetrance. Focal seizures emanate from different cortical locations (temporal, frontal, centroparietal, parietal, parietaloccipital, occipital) in different family members, but for each individual a single focus remains constant throughout lifetime. Seizure type (tonic, tonic-clonic or hyperkinetic) and severity varies among family members and tends to decrease (but do not disappear) during adulthood. Many patients have an aura and show automatisms during diurnal seizures whereas others have nocturnal seizures. Most individuals are of normal intelligence but patients with intellectual disability, autistic spectrum disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder have been described.
Key facts
- Prevalence
- <1 / 1 000 000
- Age of onset
- Adolescent, Adult, Childhood, Infancy
- Inheritance
- Autosomal dominant
- Classified as
- Disease
Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.
Signs and symptoms
Sometimes5–29%
17- Atypical behavior
- Auditory hallucinations
- Autistic behavior
- Cognitive impairment
- Deja vu
- Flushing
- Focal aware seizure
- Focal cortical dysplasia
and 9 more in this range
These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.
Genes
ICD-10 codes
ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.
Related health topics
Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.
Benefit programs to look at
Programs whose eligibility touches the same ICD-10 categories. Eligibility is decided by the administering agency, never by this page.
Cross-references
Orphadata Science: Free access data from Orphanet. © INSERM 1999. Data version 2026-06-23. Available under CC BY 4.0. This is a reference, not medical advice.
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