Epilepsia. Official Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy

To determine the predictors of cognitive function in patients with drug-resistant gelastic seizures (GS) related to hypothalamic hamartoma (HH) before and after stereotactic radiofrequency thermocoagulation surgery (SRT).

We studied 88 patients with HH who underwent SRT between October 1997 and December 2014. Patients received neuropsychological tests preoperatively and postoperatively. Based on the preoperative measures, patients were categorized as “high-functioning” (full-scale intelligence quotient [FSIQ] ≥70; n = 48) and “low-functioning” group (FSIQ <70; n = 40). Univariate and ...

Hippocampal sclerosis (HS), the most common cause of refractory temporal lobe epilepsy, is associated with hippocampal volume loss and increased T2 signal. These can be identified on quantitative imaging with hippocampal volumetry and T2 relaxometry. Although hippocampal segmentation for volumetry has been automated, T2 relaxometry currently involves subjective and time-consuming manual delineation of regions of interest. In this work, we develop and validate an automated technique for hippocampal T2 relaxometry.

Fifty patients with unilateral or bilateral HS ...

Hippocampal sclerosis (HS), the most common cause of refractory temporal lobe epilepsy, is associated with hippocampal volume loss and increased T2 signal. These can be identified on quantitative imaging with hippocampal volumetry and T2 relaxometry. Although hippocampal segmentation for volumetry has been automated, T2 relaxometry currently involves subjective and time-consuming manual delineation of regions of interest. In this work, we develop and validate an automated technique for hippocampal T2 relaxometry.

Fifty patients with unilateral or bilateral HS ...

Although drugs targeting the cannabinoid system (e.g., CB1 receptor agonists) display anticonvulsant efficacy in adult animal models of seizures/epilepsy, they remain unexplored in developing animal models. However, cannabinoid system functions emerge early in development, providing a rationale for targeting this system in neonates. We examined the therapeutic potential of drugs targeting the cannabinoid system in three seizure models in developing rats.

Postnatal day (P) 10, Sprague–Dawley rat pups were challenged with the chemoconvulsant methyl-6,7-dimethoxy-4-ethyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate (DMCM) or pentylenetetrazole ...

Although drugs targeting the cannabinoid system (e.g., CB1 receptor agonists) display anticonvulsant efficacy in adult animal models of seizures/epilepsy, they remain unexplored in developing animal models. However, cannabinoid system functions emerge early in development, providing a rationale for targeting this system in neonates. We examined the therapeutic potential of drugs targeting the cannabinoid system in three seizure models in developing rats.

Postnatal day (P) 10, Sprague–Dawley rat pups were challenged with the chemoconvulsant methyl-6,7-dimethoxy-4-ethyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate (DMCM) or pentylenetetrazole ...

Sudden unexplained death in epilepsy is the leading cause of death in young adult epilepsy patients, typically occurring during the early postictal period, presumably resulting from brainstem and cardiorespiratory dysfunction. We hypothesized that ictal discharges in the brainstem disrupt the cardiorespiratory network, causing mortality. To study this hypothesis, we chose an animal model comprising focal unilateral hippocampal injection of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), which produced focal recurrent hippocampal seizures with secondary generalization in awake, behaving rats.

We studied ictal ...

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of vigabatrin in pediatric epilepsy.

We retrospectively reviewed patients with epilepsy treated with vigabatrin over a 2-year period at a pediatric tertiary center. We assessed the relationship between seizure frequency, etiology, vigabatrin dose, adverse events, medication discontinuation reasons, and electroencephalography (EEG) characteristics.

One hundred three patients followed at Boston Children’s Hospital were treated with vigabatrin and had complete medical records. Within the follow-up interval, 69 (67%) of 103 patients had discontinued ...

The medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) ketogenic diet contains both octanoic (C8) and decanoic (C10) acids. The diet is an effective treatment for pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Although the exact mechanism for its efficacy is not known, it is emerging that C10, but not C8, interacts with targets that can explain antiseizure effects, for example, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (eliciting mitochondrial biogenesis and increased antioxidant status) and the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor. For such effects to occur, significant concentrations of C10 are likely ...