Seizure

The relationship between epilepsy and psychosis has been recognised since the mid-nineteenth century. For pragmatic reasons, psychotic symptoms are always grouped according to their temporal relationship to seizures: ictal, peri/para-ictal and interictal psychoses (IIP). Psychoses without a clear relationship to seizures are usually defined IIP and they usually account for 10–30% of all psychoses of epilepsy in unselected case series with a combined prevalence rate of 5.6% in unselected samples, up to 7.0% when considering only temporal lobe epilepsy.

The relationship between epilepsy and psychosis has been recognised since the mid-nineteenth century. For pragmatic reasons, psychotic symptoms are always grouped according to their temporal relationship to seizures: ictal, peri/para-ictal and interictal psychoses (IIP). Psychoses without a clear relationship to seizures are usually defined IIP and they usually account for 10–30% of all psychoses of epilepsy in unselected case series with a combined prevalence rate of 5.6% in unselected samples, up to 7.0% when considering only temporal lobe epilepsy.

Sleep problems are one of the most common comorbidities in epilepsy [1]. The available research indicates that children with epilepsy have a higher frequency of sleep problems than both their healthy siblings and healthy control subjects [2,3]. Multiple types of sleep problems, mainly based on parent-rated tools, have been reported including difficulty on initiating and maintaining sleep, sleep-disordered breathing, parasomnias and excessive daytime sleepiness [4].

Sleep problems are one of the most common comorbidities in epilepsy [1]. The available research indicates that children with epilepsy have a higher frequency of sleep problems than both their healthy siblings and healthy control subjects [2,3]. Multiple types of sleep problems, mainly based on parent-rated tools, have been reported including difficulty on initiating and maintaining sleep, sleep-disordered breathing, parasomnias and excessive daytime sleepiness [4].

The average delay from first seizure to diagnosis of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) is over 7 years. The reason for this delay is not well understood. We hypothesized that a perceived decrease in seizure frequency after starting an anti-seizure medication (ASM) may contribute to longer delays, but the frequency of such a response has not been well established.

Revealing the etiology of transient impairments of consciousness is an interdisciplinary task, which often remains unsuccessful despite a wide range of available diagnostic tests. From a neurological perspective it is important to discriminate epileptic and non-epileptic events. Syncopes and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures in particular can be difficult to distinguish from epileptic seizures.

Brain tumor related epilepsy is an important aspect of the burden of disease for patients with glioma and often pose a therapeutic challenge. The risk of epileptic seizures is 70-90% for patients with low grade glioma (LGG) and 30-60% for patients with high grade glioma (HGG) [1–5]. In this study, we explored status epilepticus (SE) in a prospective patient database with glioma and epilepsy. SE is a life-threatening medical emergency in which seizure activity continues for a prolonged period of ...

Seizures commonly occur in a variety of serious neurological illnesses, and lead to additional morbidity and worsened outcomes. Recently, it has become clear that not all seizures in the acute brain injury setting are evident on scalp EEG. To address this, we have developed a protocol for depth electrode placement in the neuro-intensive care unit for patients in whom the clinical suspicion of occult seizures is high. In the current manuscript, we review the literature on depth EEG monitoring for ...

Up to one third of patients with epilepsy develop medication-refractory epilepsy [1]. Surgery is often an effective treatment for these patients. Several studies, including a randomized controlled trial and a decision analysis [2,3], demonstrate the effectiveness of surgery in temporal lobe epilepsy. These patients have up to an 80% chance of post-operative seizure freedom. Similarly high rates of success are seen in lesional extratemporal epilepsy [4].

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders with an incidence of approximately 40-70/100,000 per year in adults [1] and 41-187/100,000 per year in children [2], being particularly frequent in rural and underdeveloped areas [1,3–5]. Almost 47% of patients will become seizure-free with the first anti-seizure medication trial and an additional 14% of patients with a second or third medicine [6]. Despite optimal medication management, about 20-30% of patients with epilepsy will continue to have more than one seizure ...