Epilepsia. Official Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy

Summary

Objective

To describe the long‐term prognosis of childhood epilepsy, with special emphasis on seizure remission, relapse, medication, associated neurologic impairment, mortality rate, and cause of death.

Methods

A prospective longitudinal study on a population‐based total cohort of 195 children with epileptic seizures in 1962‐1964. Data were collected from medical records and a questionnaire.

Results

Follow‐up data from 94% of the initial cohort showed the best long‐term prognosis for seizure freedom for children with no intellectual or neurologic impairment. These children had later seizure onset, shorter ...

Summary

Objective

Magnetic resonance (MR) thermography–guided laser interstitial thermal therapy, or stereotactic laser ablation (SLA), is a minimally invasive alternative to open surgery for focal epilepsy caused by cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). We examined the safety and effectiveness of SLA of epileptogenic CCMs.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed 19 consecutive patients who presented with focal seizures associated with a CCM. Each patient underwent SLA of the CCM and adjacent cortex followed by standard clinical and imaging follow‐up.

Results

All but one patient had chronic medically refractory epilepsy ...

Summary

Objective

Despite the obvious advantages of resective surgery in patients with drug‐resistant focal epilepsy, namely high probability of seizure freedom, decreased mortality, and increased quality of life, referral rates from physicians and approval rates by patients for presurgical assessment remain constantly low.

Methods

In the outpatient clinics of a tertiary epilepsy center, checklists were implemented asking treating epileptologists whether they recommended presurgical evaluation with noninvasive video‐electroencephalographic monitoring to adult patients with drug‐resistant focal epilepsy and asking respective patients whether they followed this recommendation.

Results

Of ...

Summary

Objective

To explore the real‐time effects of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) on hippocampus and amygdala functional connectivity (FC) in unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

Methods

Patients with unilateral TLE were recruited and underwent simultaneous electroencephalography–functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG‐fMRI) scanning. Simultaneous EEG was used to define the prespike (10 s before spike) and postspike (10 s after spike) periods. Dynamic FC analysis was applied using the left/right hippocampus and amygdala separately as a seed region to map the network alterations after IED occurrence.

Results

A ...

Summary

Objective

Generalized convulsive seizures (GCS) are associated with high demands on the cardiovascular system, thereby facilitating cardiac complications. To investigate occurrence, influencing factors, and extent of cardiac stress or injury, the alterations and time course of the latest generation of cardiac blood markers were investigated after documented GCS.

Methods

Adult patients with refractory epilepsy who underwent video–electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring along with simultaneous one‐lead electrocardiography (ECG) recordings were included. Cardiac biomarkers (cardiac troponin I [cTNI]; high‐sensitive troponin T [hsTNT]; N‐terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic ...

Summary

Objective

Parental depression significantly impacts children’s health and well‐being. This study aimed to (1) estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms, at six time points, among mothers over the first 10 years after their child was diagnosed with epilepsy; (2) identify trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms over time; and (3) identify baseline factors associated with each trajectory.

Methods

Data came from the Health‐Related Quality of Life in Children with Epilepsy Study (HERQULES), a Canada‐wide prospective cohort study. Data on child, parent, and family characteristics were ...

Summary

Objective

No biomarkers reliably predict risk for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Postictal generalized electroencephalography (EEG) suppression (PGES) is a possible biomarker for SUDEP risk. However, its utility in predicting SUDEP remains uncertain. We had observed that postictal tonic electromyography (PTEMG) activity follows some generalized convulsive seizures (GCS). PTEMG activity and PGES may have a common pathophysiologic basis. PGES is associated with periictal respiratory distress. There is evidence that tonic EMG occurs with brain hypoxia. Thus PTEMG activity may be ...

Summary

Objectives

Children and adults are likely to be among the casualties in a civilian nerve agent exposure. This study evaluated the efficacy of valnoctamide (racemic‐VCD), sec‐butylpropylacetamide (racemic‐SPD), and phenobarbital for stopping nerve agent seizures in both immature and adult rats.

Methods

Female and male postnatal day (PND) 21, 28, and 70 (adult) rats, previously implanted with electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes were exposed to seizure‐inducing doses of the nerve agents sarin or VX and EEG was recorded continuously. Five minutes after seizure onset, animals were ...

Summary

Objective

Blood–brain barrier (BBB) impairment, redistribution of pericytes, and disturbances in cerebral blood flow may contribute to the increased seizure propensity and neurological comorbidities associated with epilepsy. However, despite the growing evidence of postictal disturbances in microcirculation, it is not known how recurrent seizures influence pericytic membrane currents and subsequent vasodilation.

Methods

Here, we investigated successive changes in capillary neurovascular coupling and BBB integrity during recurrent seizures induced by 4‐aminopyridine or low‐Mg²⁺ conditions. To avoid the influence of arteriolar dilation and cerebral blood ...

Summary

Objective

Malformations of cortical development are common causes of intellectual disability and epilepsy, yet there is a crucial lack of relevant preclinical models associating seizures and cortical malformations. Here, we describe a novel rat model with bilateral subcortical band heterotopia (SBH) and examine whether this model develops spontaneous epileptic seizures.

Methods

To generate bilateral SBH in rats, we combined RNAi‐mediated knockdown of Dcx and in utero electroporation with a tripolar electrode configuration enabling simultaneous transfection of the two brain hemispheres. To determine whether ...