Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Neurology 2018 Dec 14. Epub 2018 Dec 14.

From the Departments of Medicine (S.S., Z.C., A.P., C.J.R., N.C.J., C.F., P.P., P.K., T.J.O.), Neurology (S.S., E.J.W., A.P., C.H., J.C., C.J.R., R.Y., C.F., P.P., P.K., T.J.O.), and Respiratory and Sleep Disorders Medicine (T.M., J.G.), The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Melbourne, Parkville; Department of Neuroscience (S.S., Z.C., A.P., N.C.J., C.F., P.P., P.K., T.J.O.), Central Clinical School, Monash University; Department of Neurology (S.S., A.P., P.P., P.K., T.J.O.), The Alfred Hospital; and Neuropsychiatry Unit (S.F., D.V.), The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Australia.

Objective: To examine the prevalence and risk factors of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in individuals with epilepsy and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES).

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of consecutive patients admitted for inpatient video-EEG monitoring at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia, between December 1, 2011, and July 31, 2017. Participants underwent routine clinical investigations during their monitoring period including polysomnography, neurocognitive testing, and screening instruments of daytime somnolence, sleep quality, and quality of life. Read More

J Neurotrauma 2018 Dec 13. Epub 2018 Dec 13.

University of Eastern Finalnd , Neulaniementie 2 , Kuopio, Finland , 70211 ;

Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) induces seizures or status epilepticus (SE) in 20%-30% of patients during the acute phase. We hypothesized that severe TBI induced with lateral fluid-percussion injury (FPI) triggers post-impact SE. Adult Sprague-Dawley male rats were anesthetized with isoflurane and randomized into sham-operated experimental control or lateral FPI-induced severe TBI groups. Read More

Epileptic Disord 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Epilepsy and Sleep Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, 710032, China.

To determine the electroclinical features of fixation-off sensitivity (FOS) in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). We searched the EEG database using the terms "fixation-off sensitivity" and "idiopathic generalized epilepsy" over a four-year period from March 2014 to April 2018 in the Xijing Hospital, Xi'an, China. FOS was evaluated according to the technique proposed by Panayiotopoulos. Read More

Epileptic Disord 2018 Dec 10. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.

Williams-Beuren syndrome is rarely associated with epilepsy. One previously reported case showed an association with apnoeic seizures while a few other cases showed an association with infantile epileptic spasms and generalized and focal seizures. We report the case of a 13-month-old boy with a deletion typically associated with Williams-Beuren syndrome, who presented with isolated apnoeic seizures which were refractory to multiple antiepileptic drugs but partially responsive to the ketogenic diet. Read More

Seizure 2018 Nov 24;64:34-40. Epub 2018 Nov 24.

Epilepsy Center, Freiburg University Medical Center, Germany.

Purpose: If consciousness or memory are impaired during an epileptic seizure, the patient may not experience or know how his/her own seizure looks like. It is disputed, whether being confronted with own seizures may lead to emotional stress or empower patients and decrease negative psychosocial consequences. We assessed patients' reactions to watching a video of their own seizure on measures of anxiety, depression and ten emotions. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Dec 3;90:93-98. Epub 2018 Dec 3.

IRCCS "NEUROMED", Pozzilli, IS, Italy; Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report long-term seizure outcome in patients who underwent frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) surgery.

Method: This retrospective study included 44 consecutive subjects who underwent resective surgery for intractable FLE at IRCCS NEUROMED (period 2001-2014), followed up for at least 2 years (mean: 8.7 years). Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Dec 2;90:90-92. Epub 2018 Dec 2.

Children's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Alberta Children's Hospital, Calgary, Canada; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Calgary, Canada; Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Electronic address:

Purpose: We compared various clinical characteristics of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) between young patients from Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Canada, three nations with significantly different socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. This international cross-cultural comparative study may advance our knowledge and understanding of PNES in children and adolescents across the cultures and borders.

Methods: In this retrospective study, we investigated all patients 16 years of age or younger, with PNES admitted to the epilepsy monitoring units at one center in Iran, one center in Saudi Arabia, and one center in Canada. Read More

Epilepsia 2018 Dec 22;59(12):2272-2283. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler-Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria.

Objective: The European Union-funded E-PILEPSY network (now continuing within the European Reference Network for rare and complex epilepsies [EpiCARE]) aims to harmonize and optimize presurgical diagnostic procedures by creating and implementing evidence-based guidelines across Europe. The present study evaluates the current evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of long-term video-electroencephalographic monitoring (LTM) in identifying the epileptogenic zone in epilepsy surgery candidates.

Methods: MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, and ClinicalTrials. Read More

Sleep 2018 Nov 26. Epub 2018 Nov 26.

Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center, Departments of Psychiatry, Hennepin County Medical Center and University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Study Objectives: Complex sexual behavior during sleep (CSBS) is a well described clinical entity in NREM sleep parasomnias (i.e. sexsomnia). Read More

J Vis Exp 2018 Nov 8(141). Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Department of Medical Sciences, Section of Pharmacology, Neuroscience Center, University of Ferrara and National Institute of Neuroscience.

Microdialysis is a well-established neuroscience technique that correlates the changes of neurologically active substances diffusing into the brain interstitial space with the behavior and/or with the specific outcome of a pathology (e.g., seizures for epilepsy). Read More

Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2018 Jul;2018:3402-3405

A high number of patients with epileptic seizures (ES) are misdiagnosed due to prevalence of mimic conditions. The clinical characteristics of mimics are often similar to ES. The events mostly misdiagnosed are of psychogenic origin and are termed as psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Dec 8;89:130-134. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Department of Neurology, Karadeniz Technical University Medical Faculty, 61080 Trabzon, Turkey.

Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are more prevalent among women, and diagnosis may sometimes be delayed by as much as seven years. Understanding the effect of gender on the presentation of a PNES may assist with diagnosis based on semiological details in the clinical setting. Although video-EEG monitoring (VEM) is the gold standard for diagnosing PNES, determining gender-related seizure semiology through careful history may prevent diagnostic delay while waiting for VEM. Read More

Seizure 2018 Dec 26;63:48-51. Epub 2018 Oct 26.

Department of Neurology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

Purpose: To determine the usefulness of the first-hour sleep EEG recording in identifying interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) during long-term video-EEG monitoring.

Method: We retrospectively reviewed 255 consecutive patients who underwent continuous long-term video-EEG monitoring in the adult epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) at the University of Chicago. The complete video-EEG recording was reviewed, and the occurrence of IEDs was determined for each patient. Read More

Epilepsia 2018 Dec 5;59(12):2231-2239. Epub 2018 Nov 5.

Department of Neurosurgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.

Objective: This retrospective study was designed to assess the impact of corpus callosotomy (CC) in patients with intractable West syndrome (WS) without lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Methods: This study involved 56 patients with WS who underwent CC between January 2000 and December 2014. Seizure outcomes and changes in psychomotor development were analyzed. Read More

World Neurosurg 2018 Nov 2. Epub 2018 Nov 2.

Department of Pharmacology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan. Electronic address:

Background: High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein plays a key role in triggering inflammatory responses in many diseases. Our previous study showed that HMGB1 is found upstream of secondary damage in traumatic brain injury (TBI). We found that anti-HMGB1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) effectively decreased acute brain damage, including the disruption of the blood-brain barrier, brain edema, and neurologic dysfunction. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2018 Dec 26;148:69-77. Epub 2018 Oct 26.

Neurology and Neuroscience Institute, Allegheny General Hospital, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, United States; Neurology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, United States; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States; Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, United States. Electronic address:

The pathophysiological mechanisms of epileptogenesis following ischemic stroke in the aged brain are not well understood, largely due to limited developments in animal modeling of poststroke epilepsy (PSE). A recent study in our laboratory (Kelly et al., 2018) using transient (3 h) unilateral middle cerebral artery (MCA) and common carotid artery (CCA) occlusion (MCA/CCAo) in 4- and 20-month-old Fischer (F344) rats resulted in epileptic seizures in both age groups; age and infarction factors independently had effects on seizure frequency. Read More

Neurodiagn J 2018 Nov 2:1-5. Epub 2018 Nov 2.

a Department of Neurology University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center , Oklahoma City , Oklahoma.

We report a case of a 47-year-old woman who presented with a 3-year history of paroxysmal events after suffering traumatic brain injury in a motor vehicle accident. She had not previously been diagnosed with epilepsy. On video-EEG monitoring, she was found to have a right temporal seizure associated with ictal asystole lasting for 18 seconds. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Dec 31;89:84-88. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

Brain Sentinel, San Antonio, TX, United States of America; University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States of America. Electronic address:

Objective: There is a high cost associated with recording quality video and electroencephalography (EEG) data in National Association of Epilepsy Center (NAEC) level IV epilepsy monitoring units (EMU). This study considers potential quality measures in EMUs for generalized tonic-clonic (GTC) seizures: types of safety signals, response time, and visibility of patient's limbs for semiology. These quality measures have been summarized across 12 EMUs to estimate response times to GTC seizures and the quality of video data that is captured during admissions. Read More

Clin Neurophysiol 2018 Dec 25;129(12):2534-2540. Epub 2018 Oct 25.

Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Stress Physiology Lab, University of Parma, Italy. Electronic address:

Objective: Seizures are frequently observed in neurological conditions affecting newborns. Since autonomic alterations are commonly associated with neonatal seizures (NS), we investigated the utility of heart rate variability (HRV) indexes of cardiac autonomic regulation for NS detection.

Methods: HRV analysis was conducted on ECG tracings recorded during video-EEG monitoring in newborns with NS and matched-controls. Read More

J Clin Neurophysiol 2018 Oct 31. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

Neurologist and Epileptologist, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai, India.

Purpose: To design a non-patient-specific system to detect the electrical onset of seizures in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Methods: We used EEG data from 29 seizures of 18 temporal lobe epilepsy patients who underwent multiday video-scalp EEG monitoring as part of their presurgical evaluations. We segmented each data set into preictal and ictal phases, and identified spectral entropy, spectral energy, and signal energy as useful features for discriminating normal and seizure conditions. Read More

J Clin Neurosci 2018 Dec 13;58:201-203. Epub 2018 Oct 13.

Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, United States.

Ictal gaze deviation and oculogyric crisis (OGC) can show identical clinical manifestations. We report a case of repeated drug induced OGCs in a 38 year old patient with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. He was referred to our center for treatment of "intractable" epilepsy manifesting as episodic eye and head deviations with apparent unresponsiveness. Read More

Front Neurol 2018 26;9:793. Epub 2018 Sep 26.

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Case School of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States.

Seizure-related autonomic dysregulation occurs in epilepsy patients and may contribute to Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). We tested how different types of seizures affect baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) and heart rate variability (HRV). We hypothesized that BRS and HRV would be reduced after bilateral convulsive seizures (BCS). Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Nov 3;88:189-204. Epub 2018 Oct 3.

Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Pharmacy, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Germany; Center for Systems Neuroscience, Hannover, Germany. Electronic address:

Intracerebral infection of C57BL/6 mice with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) replicates many features of viral encephalitis-induced epilepsy in humans, including neuroinflammation, early (insult-associated) and late (spontaneous) seizures, neurodegeneration in the hippocampus, and cognitive and behavioral alterations. Thus, this model may be ideally suited to study mechanisms involved in encephalitis-induced epilepsy as potential targets for epilepsy prevention. However, spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS) occur too infrequently to be useful as a biomarker of epilepsy, e. Read More

J Clin Neurophysiol 2018 Oct 4. Epub 2018 Oct 4.

Departments of Pediatrics and Neurosciences, Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, University of California, San Diego, California.

Purpose: Continuous video electroencephalography (cEEG) monitoring is the recommended gold standard of care for at-risk neonates but is not available in many Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). To conduct a randomized treatment trial of levetiracetam for the first-line treatment of neonatal seizures (the NEOLEV2 trial), we developed a monitoring infrastructure at five NICUs, implementing recent technological advancements to provide continuous video EEG monitoring and real-time response to seizure detection. Here, we report on the feasibility of providing this level of care. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Nov 1;88:365-372. Epub 2018 Oct 1.

Epilepsy Center, University of Freiburg, Breisacher Strasse 64, 79106 Freiburg, Germany.

Background: People with epilepsy (PWE) are frequently unable to recall the core manifestation of their disease, epileptic seizures. This limits their understanding of disease severity and social reactions to it.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of video presentation (VP) of one's own seizure and the role of seizure type/severity. Read More

J Neurosci Methods 2019 Jan 26;311:408-417. Epub 2018 Sep 26.

School of Graduate and Advanced Studies, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, United States; Department of Neurology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, United States.

Background: Electrocorticography studies are typically conducted in patients undergoing video EEG monitoring, but these studies are subject to confounds such as the effects of pain, recent anesthesia, analgesics, drug changes, antibiotics, and implant effects.

New Method: Techniques were developed to obtain electrocorticographic (ECoG) data from freely moving subjects performing navigational tasks using the RNS System (NeuroPace, Inc., Mountain View, CA), a brain-responsive neurostimulation medical device used to treat focal onset epilepsy, and to align data from the RNS System with cognitive task events with high precision. Read More

Curr Treat Options Neurol 2018 Sep 27;20(11):47. Epub 2018 Sep 27.

UAB Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1719 6th Avenue South, 312 CIRC, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA.

Purpose Of Review: There is a known interrelationship between sleep and epilepsy. This review highlights the recent findings regarding interactions between sleep and circadian rhythms and the manifestations of epilepsy and surgical treatments for refractory epilepsy.

Recent Findings: CLOCK gene expression may be reduced within the epileptogenic focus in patients with refractory epilepsy. Read More

Neurodiagn J 2018 ;58(3):164-173

a Neurodiagnostic Laboratory Duke University Medical Center , Durham , North Carolina.

Subtemporal electrode chains are part of the international 10-10 system. Since 2012, they have been routinely used at our institution in adult patients with intractable epilepsy who are undergoing video EEG evaluation for epilepsy surgery. In 2016, this was extended to the pediatric population. Read More

Acta Neurol Scand 2018 Sep 26. Epub 2018 Sep 26.

Medical Sciences Post-graduate Program, Federal University of Santa Catarina, (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil.

Objectives: To investigate the significance of "subtherapeutic" vs "therapeutic" antiepileptic drug (AED) plasma levels with respect to treatment adherence.

Material And Methods: One hundred and seventy patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy who underwent video-EEG monitoring in view of a surgical indication had their AEDs (carbamazepine, phenobarbital, phenytoin, and valproate) rapidly withdrawn following a standardized schedule. Plasma levels were measured at admission, and during the 2 days of drug withdrawal. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2018 Nov 8;147:42-50. Epub 2018 Sep 8.

Oscar Langendorff Institute of Physiology, Rostock University Medical Centre, Rostock, Germany. Electronic address:

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common epileptic syndrome in adults and often presents with seizures that prove intractable with currently available anticonvulsants. Thus, there is still a need for new anti-seizure drugs in this condition. Recently, we found that the casein kinase 2 inhibitor 4,5,6,7-tetrabromotriazole (TBB) prevented the emergence of spontaneous epileptic discharges in an acute in vitro epilepsy model. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Nov 10;88:5-14. Epub 2018 Sep 10.

Institute of Synergetics and Psychotherapy Research, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria; Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria.

Background: Admission to the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) for long-term video-electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring (VEEG) constitutes the gold standard for seizure diagnosis and presurgical evaluation. This study applied the concept of a high-frequency systematic monitoring of psychological states and tested patients' compliance in order to evaluate if its integration in the EMU is feasible and if patients benefit from the graphically underpinned discussion of their EMU stay-related cognitions and emotions.

Methods: The process-monitoring is technically realized by an internet-based device for data collection and data analysis, the Synergetic Navigation System (SNS). Read More

Front Cell Neurosci 2018 28;12:266. Epub 2018 Aug 28.

Department of Developmental Epileptology, Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia.

Status epilepticus (SE), especially in immature animals, is known to produce recurrent spontaneous seizures and behavioral comorbidities later in life. The cause of these adverse long-term outcomes is unknown, but it has been hypothesized that free radicals produced by SE may play a role. We tested this hypothesis by treating immature (P25) rats with the free radical scavenger N-tert-butyl-α-phenylnitrone (PBN) at the time of lithium chloride (LiCl)/pilocarpine (PILO)-induced SE. Read More

Medicina (B Aires) 2018 ;78 Suppl 2:25-29

Nationwide Children's Hospital, The Ohio State University, Ohio, USA. E-mail:

Neonatal seizures are common expression of acute brain injury in the perinatal period and could potentiate the degree of neuronal injury. The majority of events are electroencephalographic and the clinical seizures can be subtle and difficult to identify by medical personnel. Neonatal seizures are usually short and frequent at onset and have a tendency to subside after a short period. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Aug 31;87:78-82. Epub 2018 Aug 31.

Comprehensive Epilepsy and Sleep Center, Department of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center New York, NY, United States.

Introduction: Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a major contributor to epilepsy-related mortality. It is associated with nocturnal seizures and centrally mediated postictal cardiorespiratory dysfunction (CRD), but mechanisms and contributors remain poorly understood.

Methods: We performed a prospective, cross-sectional, observational pilot study in the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) adult epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) to explore relationships between periictal CRD, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), neuroendocrine function, and clinical SUDEP risk. Read More

Neurosurg Focus 2018 Sep;45(3):E8

Department of Neurosurgery, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC.

OBJECTIVE Stereoelectroencephalography (sEEG) and MR-guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (MRgLITT) have both emerged as minimally invasive alternatives to open surgery for the localization and treatment of medically refractory lesional epilepsy. Although some data are available about the use of these procedures individually, reports are almost nonexistent on their use in conjunction. The authors' aim was to report early outcomes regarding efficacy and safety of sEEG followed by MRgLITT for localization and ablation of seizure foci in the pediatric population with medically refractory lesional epilepsy. Read More

Neurosurg Focus 2018 Sep;45(3):E4

Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Epileptic spasms (ES) are a common manifestation of intractable epilepsy in early life and can lead to devastating neurodevelopmental consequences. Epilepsy surgery for ES is challenging because of inherent difficulties in localizing the epileptogenic zone in affected infants and children. However, recent clinical series of resective neurosurgery for ES suggest that not only is surgery a viable option for appropriately selected patients, but postoperative seizure outcomes can be similar to those achieved in other types of focal epilepsy. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Aug 29;87:39-45. Epub 2018 Aug 29.

Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada.

Objective: Differentiating epileptic seizures (ES) from psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) represents a challenging differential diagnosis with important treatment implications. This study was designed to explore the utility of neuropsychological test scores in differentiating ES from PNES.

Method: Psychometric data from 72 patients with ES and 33 patients with PNES were compared on various tests of cognitive ability and performance validity. Read More

Neurologist 2018 Sep;23(5):167-174

Departments of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology.

Background: Studies on electrophysiological characteristics of patients with epilepsy and concomitant psychosis are limited. We aimed to investigate the clinical and video-electroencephalography (EEG) findings of patients with epilepsy-related psychosis (EP).

Materials And Methods: Fifteen patients diagnosed with EP, assessed at the video-EEG monitoring unit and were under follow-up at both epilepsy and psychiatry clinics, were included. Read More

Eur J Neurol 2018 Aug 31. Epub 2018 Aug 31.

Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, Western General Hospital, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

Background And Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of sleep disorders and measure the objective sleep quality in patients with seizure disorders.

Methods: Patients admitted for video electroencephalography monitoring were prospectively recruited and polysomnography was performed on the third night of monitoring.

Results: A total of 4/44 (9%) patients with epilepsy and 2/22 (9%) patients with dissociative seizures were found to have mild sleep-disordered breathing. Read More

Epilepsia 2018 Oct 26;59(10):1954-1965. Epub 2018 Aug 26.

Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University, Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, Michigan.

Objective: We hypothesized that the modulation index (MI), a summary measure of the strength of phase-amplitude coupling between high-frequency activity (>150 Hz) and the phase of slow waves (3-4 Hz), would serve as a useful interictal biomarker for epilepsy presurgical evaluation.

Methods: We investigated 123 patients who underwent focal cortical resection following extraoperative electrocorticography recording and had at least 1 year of postoperative follow-up. We examined whether consideration of MI would improve the prediction of postoperative seizure outcome. Read More

BMJ Case Rep 2018 Aug 23;2018. Epub 2018 Aug 23.

IRCCS Instituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOC Neurologia Ospedale Bellaria, Bologna, Italia.

A 61-year-old woman affected by nocturnal hypermotor seizures since the age of 2 years complained of epigastric discomfort and chocking sensation before seizure onset for the last 25 years. Telemetry unit monitoring revealed several focal seizures with left frontotemporal onset complicated with ictal asystole and apnoea. After pacemaker (PM) implantation, video-EEG monitoring coupled with extensive respiratory montage confirmed the presence of ictal central apnoea. Read More

Zh Vopr Neirokhir Im N N Burdenko 2018;82(4):45-56

Treatment and rehabilitation center, Moscow, Russia.

Objective: Epilepsy is a frequent clinical manifestation of cavernous malformations (CMs) of the mediobasal temporal region (MBTR). Surgical removal of CMs is an excellent technique for treating associated epilepsy and may range from pure lesionectomy to tailored resection of the temporal lobe.

Purpose: The study purpose was to determine the optimal surgical management for epilepsy in patients with CMs of the MBTR. Read More

IBRO Rep 2017 Dec 24;3:33-44. Epub 2017 Sep 24.

Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Canada.

The incidence of seizures increases with old age. Stroke, dementia and brain tumors are recognized risk factors for new-onset seizures in the aging populations and the incidence of these conditions also increased with age. Whether aging is associated with higher seizure susceptibility in the absence of the above pathologies remains unclear. Read More

World Neurosurg 2018 Dec 16;120:e94-e99. Epub 2018 Aug 16.

Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Electronic address:

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between blood-brain barrier disruption and transient neurologic deficits (TNDs) after neuroendovascular interventions (NEIs) using postcontrast T2/FLAIR (pcFLAIR) imaging.

Methods: This is a prospective study of 41 consecutive patients undergoing flow diversion therapy for unruptured aneurysm treatment. Patients underwent postprocedural magnetic resonance imaging within 24 hours of the procedure, including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and pcFLAIR sequences. Read More

Seizure 2018 Oct 12;61:83-88. Epub 2018 Aug 12.

Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Purpose: Ictal nausea/vomiting has been linked to the non-dominant hemisphere and has been considered a lateralizing sign. However, small case series and single cases have reported seizure localisation in the dominant hemisphere. Here we aimed to determine the seizure localisation and lateralization in cases with ictal nausea/retching/vomiting to test the hypothesis that these signs are of lateralizing value. Read More

Clin EEG Neurosci 2018 Aug 17:1550059418794347. Epub 2018 Aug 17.

1 Department of Pediatric Neurology, Developmental Medicine and Social Pediatrics, Dr von Haunersches Children's Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.

Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) due to mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) are eligible candidates for resective epilepsy surgery. We report on 2 male patients aged 4 years with suspected TLE due to MTS who were referred for presurgical evaluation. Both patients came to medical attention within the first year of life suffering from febrile status epileptici and subsequent unprovoked seizures. Read More

Epileptic Disord 2018 Aug;20(4):301-312

Department of Neurology, Christian Doppler Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg Austria, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience Salzburg, Austria, Department of Public Health Technology Assessment, UMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall.i.T., Austria.

Epilepsia partialis continua (EPC) is a rare form of focal status epilepticus. We describe a 22-year-old woman with EPC manifesting with isolated toe movements, prevalent over the left side and initially misdiagnosed as psychogenic, clinically almost indistinguishable from those observed in "painful legs and moving toes syndrome". The continuous involuntary movements with EMG correlates of twitches lasting <100 ms, the sharp waves over fronto-central regions on EEG, and the marked asymmetry in somatosensory evoked potentials with higher cortical amplitude over the right side following peripheral stimulation over the left foot confirmed the epileptic nature of the symptoms, leading to the diagnosis of EPC. Read More

Brain Dev 2019 Jan 1;41(1):116-120. Epub 2018 Aug 1.

Facility Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Seirei Hamamatsu General Hospital, Japan.

Purpose: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a leading cause of epilepsy, with seizures affecting almost 80-90% of children. We used the concordance between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and dense array electroencephalography (dEEG) findings to detect epileptic focus in a patient with TSC.

Methods: A 9-year-old boy with TSC exhibited daily choking spells. Read More

Epilepsy Behav 2018 Sep 30;86:31-36. Epub 2018 Jul 30.

Department of Neurology, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate unusual ictal propagation patterns in patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and reveal their electrophysiological, neuroimaging, and prognostic properties after surgery.

Methods: Among 248 patients with TLE who underwent scalp video-electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring, 24 patients with 'switch of lateralization' or 'bilateral asynchrony' in at least one of their seizures (9.3%) were analyzed retrospectively. Read More

J Neurosurg 2018 Jun 1:1-7. Epub 2018 Jun 1.

Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland.

OBJECTIVE Delay in diagnosis and subsequent treatment of nonconvulsive seizures can lead to worsened outcomes. The gold standard in detecting nonconvulsive seizures is continuous video-electroencephalography (cEEG). Compared to routine, 30-minute EEG, the use of cEEG increases the likelihood of capturing intermittent nonconvulsive seizures. Read More