Epilepsia. Official Journal of the International League Against Epilepsy

Abstract

Absence seizures (AS), presenting as short losses of consciousness with staring spells, are a common manifestation of childhood epilepsy that is associated with behavioral, emotional, and social impairments. It has also been suggested that patients with AS are more likely to suffer from mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. This systematic review and meta‐analysis synthesizes human and animal models that investigated mood disorders and AS. Of the 1019 scientific publications identified, 35 articles met the inclusion criteria for this ...

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized epilepsy as a public health imperative due to its occurrence at all ages in all regions of the world, its high impact on disability‐adjusted life years and psychosocial aspects, and the accompanying stigma. The International League Against Epilepsy and the International Bureau for Epilepsy have established crucial collaborations with regional and global organizations to promote epilepsy as a treatable disease, close the treatment gap in care, education, and research, and eradicate stigma. In ...

Abstract

Objective

Focal cortical dysplasias (FCDs) are a common cause of drug‐resistant focal epilepsy but frequently remain undetected by conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessment. The visual detection can be facilitated by morphometric analysis of T1‐weighted images, for example, using the Morphometric Analysis Program (v2018; MAP18), which was introduced in 2005, independently validated for its clinical benefits, and successfully integrated in standard presurgical workflows of numerous epilepsy centers worldwide. Here we aimed to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) classifier for robust ...

Abstract

Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) are among the most challenging of all epilepsies to manage, given the exceedingly frequent and often severe seizure types, pharmacoresistance to conventional antiseizure medications, and numerous comorbidities. During the past decade, efforts have focused on development of new treatment options for DEEs, with several recently approved in the United States or Europe, including cannabidiol as an orphan drug in Dravet and Lennox–Gastaut syndromes and everolimus as a possible antiepileptogenic and precision drug for tuberous sclerosis ...

Summary

Objective

Intracranial electroencephalography (ICEEG) recordings are performed for seizure localization in medically refractory epilepsy. Signal quantifications such as frequency power can be projected as heatmaps on personalized three‐dimensional (3D) reconstructed cortical surfaces to distill these complex recordings into intuitive cinematic visualizations. However, simultaneously reconciling deep recording locations and reliably tracking evolving ictal patterns remain significant challenges.

Methods

We fused oblique magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) slices along depth probe trajectories with cortical surface reconstructions and projected dynamic heatmaps using a simple mathematical metric of ...

Abstract

Objective

Daytime and nighttime patterns affect the dynamic modulation of brain and body functions and influence the autonomic nervous system response to seizures. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate 24‐hour patterns of electrodermal activity (EDA) in patients with and without seizures.

Methods

We included pediatric patients with (a) seizures (SZ), including focal impaired awareness seizures (FIAS) or generalized tonic‐clonic seizures (GTCS), (b) no seizures and normal electroencephalography (NEEG), or (c) no seizures but epileptiform activity in the EEG (EA) during vEEG monitoring. Patients wore ...

Abstract

Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is a severe form of childhood onset epilepsy in which patients require multiple medications and may be candidates for palliative surgical intervention. In this meta‐analysis, we sought to evaluate the impact of palliative vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), corpus callosotomy (CC), and resective surgery (RS) by analyzing their impact on seizure control, antiepileptic drug (AED) usage, quality of life (QOL), behavior, cognition, prognostic factors, and complications. A systematic search of PubMed MEDLINE, Scopus, and Cochrane Database of Systematic ...

Abstract

Seizure clusters must be treated quickly and effectively to prevent progression to prolonged seizures and status epilepticus. Rescue therapy for seizure clusters has focused on the use of benzodiazepines. Although intravenous benzodiazepine administration is the primary route in hospitals and emergency departments, seizure clusters typically occur in out‐of‐hospital settings, where a more portable product that can be easily administered by nonmedical caregivers is needed. Thus, other methods of administration have been examined, including rectal, intranasal, intramuscular, and buccal routes. Following ...

Abstract

Objective

This study was undertaken to investigate how gain of function (GOF) of slack channel due to a KCNT1 pathogenic variant induces abnormal neuronal cortical network activity and generates specific electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns of epilepsy in infancy with migrating focal seizures.

Methods

We used detailed microscopic computational models of neurons to explore the impact of GOF of slack channel (explicitly coded) on each subtype of neurons and on a cortical micronetwork. Then, we adapted a thalamocortical macroscopic model considering results obtained in detailed ...