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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Translational Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1513619

Tuberous sclerosis: a survey in the canton of Vaud

Provisionally accepted
Olivia Hagon-Nicod Olivia Hagon-Nicod 1*Florence Fellmann Florence Fellmann 2*Jan Novy Jan Novy 3*Sébastien Lebon Sébastien Lebon 3*Christian Wider Christian Wider 3*Romain Lazor Romain Lazor 3Olivier Bonny Olivier Bonny 1*
  • 1 Fribourg Cantonal Hospital, Friborg, Switzerland
  • 2 Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
  • 3 Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Aim of the study Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic and multisystemic disorder that affects between 1/6'000 and 1/10'000 of newborns. Clinical criteria and/or genetic analysis establish the diagnosis. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors everolimus or sirolimus reduce the severity of several TSC-related clinical traits. We report here on the epidemiology and management of TSC patients in a large Swiss canton: the canton of Vaud. Method We extracted patient files containing the diagnostic code TSC in 2015 at the Lausanne University hospital (tertiary reference center for a population of about 755'000 people) and in specialized neurological institutions of the same region.We identified 52 patients with a diagnosis of TSC. The majority of the patients with a pathologic result in genetic testing were positive for a pathogenic variant in the TSC2 gene, including five cases of contiguous gene deletion syndrome of TSC2 and PKD1 causing both polycystic kidney disease and TSC. The most frequent clinical manifestations encountered were affecting the skin (87% of patients), the brain (83%), the heart (46%) and the kidneys (46%). Neuropsychiatric disorders were described in 56% of cases. At the time of data collection (2015), there were 2 patients using systemic mTOR inhibitors and 16 patients using topical mTOR inhibitors for dermatological features. Next, we compared this data with those of large published cohorts. While we found fewer cases than expected for the screened population, demographic as well as genetic data were overall similar to the literature. However, we observed that some clinical manifestations (renal, lung and neuropsychiatric disorders) were less frequently described in our cohort.This work indicates that TSC and some of its clinical manifestations is under-reported. It raises concern that patients with mild manifestations are often not referred to reference centers with dedicated multidisciplinary group. The follow-up by expert board is instrumental in offering systematic screening of all putatively affected organs and to assess the eligibility for targeted treatment.

    Keywords: tuberous sclerosis complex, mTOR inhibitors, Epilepsy, Subependymal nodules, Subependymal giant cell astrocytomas, Angiomyolipomas, Lymphangioleiomyomatosis

    Received: 18 Oct 2024; Accepted: 28 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hagon-Nicod, Fellmann, Novy, Lebon, Wider, Lazor and Bonny. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Olivia Hagon-Nicod, Fribourg Cantonal Hospital, Friborg, Switzerland
    Florence Fellmann, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Vaud, Switzerland
    Jan Novy, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, 1011, Vaud, Switzerland
    Sébastien Lebon, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, 1011, Vaud, Switzerland
    Christian Wider, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, 1011, Vaud, Switzerland
    Olivier Bonny, Fribourg Cantonal Hospital, Friborg, Switzerland

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