Epilepsia. Official Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy

Abstract

Objective

The models currently available for predicting the risk of seizure recurrence after antiepileptic drug (AED) withdrawal in adult epilepsy patients include the prediction model developed by Lamberink et al (Lamberink model, 2017) and the Medical Research Council prediction model (MRC model, 1993). However, there was no external validation for the two models. The purpose of this study was to perform an independent external validation and a comparison of the Lamberink model and the MRC model in adult patients.

Methods

The study population ...

Abstract

Objective

We conducted clinical testing of an automated Bayesian machine learning algorithm (Epilepsy Seizure Assessment Tool [EpiSAT]) for outpatient seizure risk assessment using seizure counting data, and validated performance against specialized epilepsy clinician experts.

Methods

We conducted a prospective longitudinal study of EpiSAT performance against 24 specialized clinician experts at three tertiary referral epilepsy centers in the United States. Accuracy, interrater reliability, and intra‐rater reliability of EpiSAT for correctly identifying changes in seizure risk (improvements, worsening, or no change) were evaluated using 120 seizures from four synthetic seizure diaries ...

Abstract

Objective

Hospital readmissions result in increased health care costs and are associated with worse outcomes after neurosurgical intervention. Understanding factors associated with readmissions will inform future studies aimed at improving quality of care in those with epilepsy.

Methods

Patients of all ages with epilepsy who underwent a neurosurgical intervention were identified in the 2014 Nationwide Readmissions Database, a nationally representative dataset containing data from roughly 17 million US hospital discharges. Diagnosis of epilepsy was based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical ...

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this report is to present our clinical experience of electroencephalography–functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG‐fMRI) in localizing the epileptogenic focus, and to evaluate the clinical impact and challenges associated with the use of EEG‐fMRI in pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy.

Methods

We identified EEG‐fMRI studies (n = 118) in people with focal epilepsy performed at our center from 2003 to 2018. Participants were referred from our Comprehensive Epilepsy Program in an exploratory research effort to address often difficult clinical questions, due to complex and ...

Abstract

Objective

Epilepsy is common and carries substantial morbidity, and therefore identifying cost‐effective health interventions is essential. Cost‐utility analysis is a widely used method for such analyses. For this, health conditions are rated in terms of utilities, which provide a standardized score to reflect quality of life. Utilities are obtained either indirectly using quality of life questionnaires, or directly from patients or the general population. We sought to describe instruments used to estimate utilities in epilepsy populations, and how results differ according ...

Abstract

Objective

Delay to resective epilepsy surgery results in avoidable disease burden and increased risk of mortality. The objective was to prospectively validate a natural language processing (NLP) application that uses provider notes to assign epilepsy surgery candidacy scores.

Methods

The application was trained on notes from (1) patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy and a history of resective epilepsy surgery and (2) patients who were seizure‐free without surgery. The testing set included all patients with unknown surgical candidacy status and an upcoming neurology ...

Abstract

Objective

Temporal lobe epilepsy is a common form of epilepsy that might be amenable to surgery. However, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)‐negative hippocampal sclerosis (HS) can hamper early diagnosis and surgical intervention for patients in clinical practice, resulting in disease progression. Our aim was to automatically detect and evaluate the structural alterations of HS.

Methods

Eighty patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy and histologically proven HS and 80 healthy controls were included in the study. Two automated classifiers relying on clinically empirical and radiomics features were ...

Abstract

Objective

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is comprised of cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2 (CB1R and CB2R), endogenous ligands, and regulatory enzymes, and serves to regulate several important physiological functions throughout the brain and body. Recent evidence suggests that the ECS may be a promising target for the treatment of epilepsy, including epilepsy subtypes that arise from mutations in the voltage‐gated sodium channel SCN1A. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of modulating CB2R activity on seizure susceptibility.

Methods

We examined ...

Abstract

Objective

To screen a library of potential therapeutic compounds for a woman with Lennox‐Gastaut syndrome due to a Y302C GABRB3 (c.905A>G) mutation.

Methods

We compared the electrophysiological properties of cells with wild‐type or the pathogenic GABRB3 mutation.

Results

Among 1320 compounds, multiple candidates enhanced GABRB3 channel conductance in cell models. Vinpocetine, an alkaloid derived from the periwinkle plant with anti‐inflammatory properties and the ability to modulate sodium and channel channels, was the lead candidate based on efficacy and safety profile. Vinpocetine was administered as a ...

Abstract

Objective

Much evidence suggests that the subiculum plays a significant role in the regulation of epileptic activity. Lactate acts as a neuroprotective agent against many conditions that cause brain damage. During epileptic seizures, lactate formation reaches up to ~6 mmol/L in the brain. We investigated the effect of lactate on subicular pyramidal neurons after induction of epileptiform activity using 4‐aminopyridine (4‐AP‐0Mg²⁺) in an in vitro epilepsy model in rats. The signaling mechanism associated with the suppression of epileptiform discharges by lactate was also ...