Seizure

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by abnormal neuronal activity [1] with recurrent seizures. Lifetime rates of psychiatric illness (10-50% of depressive disorders, 10-44% of anxiety disorders, and 15-40% of personality disorders) in persons with epilepsy (PWEs) are higher than in the general population but lower than in those with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) [2]. Depression and anxiety are the two conditions most frequently reported as psychiatric comorbidities in epilepsy [3].

Convulsive status epilepticus is a medical condition defined by prolonged generalized tonic-clonic seizures marked by two critical time points. The initial time point is defined by seizures lasting at least 5 minutes, leading to abnormally extended seizures (time point t1). If these seizures continue for 30 minutes or more (time point t2), there is a significant risk of long-term consequences, such as neuronal death, neuronal injury, and alterations in neuronal networks[1,2]. This condition is the most common neurological emergency in ...

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a well-defined, adolescent onset subtype of idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) and characterized by myoclonic seizures, occasional generalized tonic–clonic seizures (GTCS), and in some cases, absence seizures [1]. A distinct feature of JME is the occurrence of myoclonic jerks, often experienced upon waking in the morning [2]. A transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study showed that cortical excitability increases early in the morning in patients with JME but not in subjects with focal epilepsy or controls without ...

Brain tumors are one of the most frequent causes of structural epilepsy and set a major burden on treatment costs and the social integrity of patients. Although promising oncological treatment strategies are already available, epileptological treatment is often intractable and requires lifelong epileptological care. Therefore, treatment strategies must be adapted to age-related needs, and specific aspects of late-onset epilepsy (LOE) must be considered. The practical implementation of individual decisions from tumor boards and the current state of the art in ...

Status epilepticus (SE) carries a significant risk of morbidity and mortality1. Treatment involves the sequential administration of antiseizure medications (ASM), starting with benzodiazepines, and moving progressively to general anesthetics, and the outcome is essentially determined by the patient’s underlying biological background2.

Vigabatrin (4-aminohex-5-enoic acid, VGB) is an anti-seizure medication (ASM) commonly used in pediatric age groups for the treatment of epileptic spasms, especially in children with touberous sclerosis complex. It is a selective and irreversible inhibitor of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-transaminase, an enzyme that catalyzes the inactivation of GABA, which thereby increases the level of GABA in presynaptic terminals. It also attenuates the glutamate-glutamine cycle between neurons and astroglia, reducing excitatory glutamate [1].

Aging is a multifaceted and highly varied process in the brain. Identifying aging biomarkers is one means of distinguishing pathological from physiological aging. The aim of this narrative review is to focus on two new developments in the field of fluid biomarkers and draw attention to this excellent tool for the early detection of potential brain pathologies that delay, alter, or enable physiological aging to become pathological. Pathological aging can lower the threshold for the development of specific diseases such ...

Functional dissociative seizures (FDS), formerly psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), are sudden and involuntary episodes involving changes in motor and sensory activity, cognitive processing, behavior, and autonomic function. Even though they may resemble epileptic seizures (ES), there are no epileptogenic discharges in the EEG of patients with FDS [1–4]. Currently, the process of diagnosing FDS is evolving from the exclusion of epilepsy to the recognition of typical clinical features [5].

Non-epileptic seizures (NES) are events that resemble seizures which are not attributable to electrical disturbances in the brain [34]. NES can be referred to by multiple other names, including psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, functional neurological disorder and dissociative seizures [49]. It is estimated that between 2 and 33 people out of 100,000 experience NES, and that 20% of people referred to specialist services with epilepsy have NES [3,31]. NES are also associated with inappropriate administration of anti-convulsant medication, invasive procedures and ...

Seizures and epilepsy are a common clinical manifestation of autoimmune encephalitis (AIE; [1,2]) especially autoimmune limbic encephalitis (ALE; [3,4]), predominantly affecting mesial temporal structures such as the amygdala and the anterior part of the hippocampus.