Seizure

Epileptic spasms (ESs) have been identified as a distinct form of seizure by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) [1]. These spasms have characteristic brief axial and rhizomelic contractions, and the ictal electroencephalography (EEG) is characterized by a slow, transient wave after undergoing a period of attenuation [2]. These characteristics are most frequently related with West syndrome (WS) [3]. WS is a specific electroclinical epilepsy syndrome with onset in infancy with a characteristic electrographic pattern, hypsarrhythmia, and developmental delays.

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are paroxysmal repetitive episodes which may superficially resemble epileptic seizures, in relation to unconscious psychogenic processes and without excessive neuronal discharge. [1].

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized primarily by recurrent and unpredictable seizures. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is significantly impacted in persons with epilepsy, not only by recurrent seizures, but also due to impaired psychosocial functioning [1,2]. As management of recurrent seizures improves, impaired psychosocial functioning may become the greater concern for HRQoL in persons with epilepsy [1].

Sleep and epilepsy are two bidirectionally interconnected phenomena [1]. The close link existing between epilepsy and sleep is well known since the times of Hippocrates [2]; and the activating function of sleep on epilepsy has been widely recognized, as well as the effect of epilepsy on sleep [3].

The concept of forced normalization was coined in 1950 by Heinrich Landolt [1,2]. He described a clinical setting that conjoined epilepsy and psychosis: patients showed behavioural and psychiatric symptoms coinciding with a reduction or termination of seizures, as well as a total or partial normalization of electroencephalogram. It is still a matter of interest because the physiopathology, triggering factors, predicting and clinical variables are still not fully understood.

Direct electrical cortical stimulation (CS) is used for mapping of eloquent cortex in patients with refractory focal epilepsy undergoing intracranial electroencephalography (icEEG) as part of their presurgical evaluation. CS can be performed with subdural grids, strips and depth electrodes (or combinations of these) after craniotomy or with stereotactically-inserted depth electrodes (stereo electroencephalography, SEEG)[1,2]. CS remains the gold standard for functional mapping of language, motor and sensory areas in relation to the epileptogenic zone (EZ) prior to epilepsy surgery[1,2].

Epilepsy is a debilitating neurological disorder characterized by seizures. Structural, metabolic, genetic or infectious factors are often identified as the cause of epilepsy, but in a substantial number of patients the etiology is unclear [1]. In the past few years, emerging data have revealed an autoimmune cause in patients with previous epilepsy with unknown etiology [2–6], and in the 2017 International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Classification, autoimmune epilepsy was recognized as a distinct etiological subgroup of epilepsy [1].

Status epilepticus (SE) is a life-threatening medical emergency, even if appropriate treatment is initiated, the mortality within 30 days ranges from 10 % to 30 % [1]. The mortality rates of convulsive SE are even higher – up to 39 % in population-based studies [2]. The data regarding the outcome for nonconvulsive SE (NCSE) are sparse [3]. The clinical and EEG definitions of NCSE have changed over time, but they have been updated recently in the Salzburg consensus criteria for ...

First described by Theodore Rasmussen in 1958 [1], Rasmussen encephalitis (RE) is defined as “a chronic, progressive encephalopathy with unilateral involvement and featured by intractable focal seizures, Epilepsia Partialis Continua (EPC), hemiparesis and progressive cognitive decline” [2]. the annual incidence is estimated to be about 2.4 cases/107 people under 18 years [3]. Authors do not describe any sex or ethnic predominance [4]. The mean age at presentation is between 6 and 8 years, and the neurologic development at the onset ...

Acute symptomatic seizures (ASS) are defined as clinical seizures occurring at the time of a systemic or brain insult. Seizures occurring in the context of an autoimmune disease, such as an autoimmune encephalitis, are considered autoimmune acute symptomatic seizures if signs or symptoms of immune activation are noted [1] The current International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) terminology considers seizures in the context of autoimmune encephalitis at initial or relapsing presentations as acute symptomatic.