Epilepsia. Official Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy

Abstract

Congenital Zika virus syndrome (CZVS) is associated with severe neurological deficits. Clinical characteristics of epilepsy and the electroencephalographic (EEG) pattern in CZVS were documented in infancy. In this study, we aimed to describe the EEG findings observed during the follow‐up of children with CZVS. Seventy‐six EEGs of 55 children (60% female; mean age = 50 months) with confirmed CZVS were analyzed, considering the background, interictal, and ictal epileptiform discharges. Continuous (or almost continuous) epileptiform discharges during non–rapid eye movement sleep were ...

Abstract

Objective

Fenfluramine, which was previously approved as a weight loss drug, was withdrawn in 1997 when reports of cardiac valvulopathy emerged. The present study was conducted in part to characterize the cardiovascular safety profile of low‐dose fenfluramine when used in a pediatric population to reduce seizure frequency in patients with Dravet syndrome.

Methods

Patients 2‐ to 18‐years‐old with Dravet syndrome who had completed any of three randomized, placebo‐controlled clinical trials of fenfluramine were offered enrollment in this open‐label extension (OLE) study. All patients ...

Abstract

Objective

Identifying adverse outcomes and examining trends and causes of nonelective admissions among persons with epilepsy would be beneficial to optimize patient care and reduce health services utilization. We examined the association of epilepsy with discharge status, in‐hospital mortality, length‐of‐stay, and charges. We also examined 10‐year trends and causes of hospital admissions among those with and without epilepsy.

Methods

Nonelective hospital admission in persons with epilepsy was identified in the 2005‐2014 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) using a validated International Classification of Diseases, 9th ...

Abstract

There is substantial variability in outcomes following invasive monitoring and surgical treatment of drug‐resistant epilepsy (DRE). Patients with DRE are uniquely vulnerable to cross‐national health care disparities, as their epilepsy is difficult to treat and requires extensive resources. In a large cross‐national database of patients undergoing invasive monitoring for epilepsy surgery, we sought to evaluate the association between social, economic, and educational indicators of the country of treatment and patient outcomes following invasive monitoring. We performed a mixed‐effects analysis of ...

Abstract

Objective

Current medicines are ineffective in approximately one‐third of people with epilepsy. Therefore, new antiseizure drugs are urgently needed to address this problem of pharmacoresistance. However, traditional rodent seizure and epilepsy models are poorly suited to high‐throughput compound screening. Furthermore, testing in a single species increases the chance that therapeutic compounds act on molecular targets that may not be conserved in humans. To address these issues, we developed a pipeline approach using four different organisms.

Methods

We sequentially employed compound library screening in ...

Abstract

Objective

To identify postinjury physiologic, behavioral, and cognitive biomarkers for posttraumatic epilepsy to enrich study populations for long‐term antiepileptogenesis studies.

Methods

The EPITARGET cohort with behavioral follow‐up and 1‐month 24/7 video‐electroencephalography (vEEG) monitoring included 115 adult male Sprague‐Dawley rats with lateral fluid‐percussion–induced traumatic brain injury (TBI), 23 sham‐operated controls, and 13 naive rats. Animals underwent assessment of somatomotor performance (composite neuroscore), anxiety‐like behavior (elevated plus maze, open field), spatial memory (Morris water maze), and depression‐like behavior (Porsolt forced swim, sucrose preference). Impact force, ...

Abstract

Objective

Peripartum seizures remain a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Therefore, recognition of high‐risk individuals is essential. We aimed to determine the rate and identify risk factors for postpartum seizure/epilepsy readmissions.

Methods

In this retrospective cohort study, the Nationwide Readmissions Database was used to identify index admissions for delivery and readmissions for seizures in the year 2013, defined by International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes for epilepsy, convulsions, and eclampsia in the primary diagnostic position. Logistic regression ...

Abstract

Advances in genetics may enable a deeper understanding of disease mechanisms and promote a shift to more personalised medicine in the epilepsies. At present, understanding of consequences of genetic variants mainly relies on preclinical functional work; tools for acquiring similar data from the living human brain are needed. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), in particular paired‐pulse TMS protocols which depend on the function of cortical GABAergic interneuron networks, has the potential to become such a tool. For this report, we identified ...