Seizure

In the modern society, focused on performance and achievement, the importance of sleep for good health is frequently ignored. The association between lack of sleep and the manifestation of epilepsy is also neglected, and physicians treating patients with epilepsy often do not have time and the necessary context to evaluate specific sleep disorders and associated symptoms. However, the impact of sleep on epilepsy (and vice versa) is complex and multifaceted [1]. Poor sleep quality or duration can worsen seizure control; ...

Reflex epilepsy is a condition, wherein epileptic seizures are triggered by specific stimuli such as flashing lights, music, reading etc. Stimuli may be exogenous (sensory) or endogenous (e.g.: praxis induced, solving calculations). Very rarely, the act of urination can set off seizures and this may often be confused with micturition syncope, when loss of consciousness occurs early.

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases globally that affects about 50 million people of all ages; of which almost 80% live in low- and middle-income countries (WHO) [1]. Epilepsy could affect people in all ages, and with a higher incidence in small children, and in elderly aged 65 years and older [2]. Based on studies from the 1990’ies, unprovoked epileptic seizures among subjects aged 17 years and older has been shown to have an incidence of 56 ...

Meta-analyses were not used initially in medicine. In the 1700s, there was an absence of a clear method to summarize results from different studies [1]. Among the scholars whose works were essential to the development of meta-analytic techniques in the 18th and 19th century were astronomers, physics, and mathematicians like Carl Friedrich Gauss and Pierre-Simon Laplace [1,2]. However, it was the astronomer George Biddell Airy, in his book “On the Algebraical and Numerical Theory of Error of Observation and the ...

While driving is one of the most important concerns for people with epilepsy (PWE) [1], seizures while driving may cause traffic crashes that injure the drivers themselves and bystanders [2]. Most countries restrict driving of PWE to a certain degree by their laws [3–5]. In many countries, driving of PWE is not uniformly restricted but is conditional, usually based on the status of seizure control and the estimated risk of seizure recurrence. Since a seizure-free period has been known to ...

Status epilepticus (SE) is a life-threating neurological emergency which might be refractory to the available treatments [1]. Refractory SE (RSE) is used to describe the persistence of SE despite administration of at least 2 appropriately selected and dosed parenteral medications, including benzodiazepine [2]. New-Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus (NORSE) is often used in clinical practice to describe an adult patient who presents the RSE that remains unexplained after initial evaluation [2]. Cryptogenic NORSE is a subgroup of NORSE without a clear ...

Epilepsy surgery is an evidence-based treatment for drug-refractory focal epilepsy [1,2]. However, not every patient’s epilepsy is similarly amenable to surgery and success rates vary depending on epilepsy type and other patient characteristics. To assess outcome after epilepsy surgery two classifications are used. The Engel classification assesses the total period after surgery [3] whereas the ILAE classification assesses a defined period, for example since the last follow-up [4].

Functional language mapping is an important part of assessing patients with epilepsy undergoing evaluation for resective surgery. Currently, direct cortical stimulation (DCS) is considered the gold standard, but requires surgery. Navigated repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is increasingly being utilised for non-invasive preoperative language mapping in tumour surgery [1,2]. However, the concordance between rTMS and DCS is not yet established in non-lesional surgery.

Mitochondrial disorders result from mutations in mitochondrial DNA or nuclear genes regulating mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) function and maintenance. Clinical syndromes may be multi-systemic or tissue-specific, and typically present in childhood or early adulthood. Neurological manifestations such as epilepsy are common, as neurons are particularly susceptible to mitochondrial dysfunction given their high metabolic demand [1]. However, case reports documenting the first presentation of a suspected mitochondrial disease above the age of 70 years are exceedingly rare.

Parry–Romberg syndrome (PRS) was first described by Parry in 1825 and later by Romberg in 1846 [1]. PRS is a rare disorder characterized by unilateral slow progressive facial atrophy that can affect all tissues, from the skin to the osteocartilaginous structures. It is sometimes