Journal of epilepsy research最新文献

Background and purpose: To study the aetiolgic spectrum of new-onset seizures in the peripartum period in south India.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of case records of women with new-onset seizures in the peripartum period admitted between 2005 and 2018 (13 years).

Results: Of the 41 women (mean age, 26.20 years; range, 19-35 years) admitted, 20 patients (48.7%) had hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). Generalized tonic-clonic seizure (88%) was the common seizure type. The aetiologies of new-onset seizures were: 1) pregnancy-related aetiologies in 33 (80.5%) and 2) non-pregnancy-related aetiologies in eight (19.5%). Of the pregnancy-related aetiologies, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) was the commonest cause in 24 patients (58.5%). Seizure cluster presentation was common in patients with PRES (p=0.0087). Of the eight women with non-pregnancy-related aetiologies, endemic central nervous system (CNS) infections accounted for three (7.3%; brain tuberculoma in one and neurocystocercosis in two) of the aetiology. All the women had Glasgow outcome scale-5 outcome.

Conclusions: PRES was the common cause of new-onset seizures in peripartum period in this cohort. Endemic infections of CNS accounted for 7.3% of the total aetiological spectrum. This study suggests that the possibility of PRES should be considerd in woman with HDP and seizure cluster in peripartum period.

Ictal swearing, as an epileptic manifestation, has rarely been reported. Despite its poor localization value and unclear mechanism, several previous studies have reported that it frequently originates from the temporal lobe and more often from the non-dominant hemisphere. Herein, we report a case of a 41-year-old right-handed man with a history of stereotypical manifestation of ictal swearing with a left (dominant) hemisphere origin, confirmed by video electroencephalography monitoring. Reasonable suspicion that repetitive swearing could be a manifestation of seizures is important for clinicians not to misdiagnose the disease.

Agenesis of the corpus callosum is a brain malformation that can occur in isolation or in conjunction with other congenital or developmental defects. The clinical sequelae of this condition include epilepsy, cognitive deficits, developmental delay, and various neurological and psychiatric disorders. Here we present the case of a patient with congenital complete agenesis of the corpus callosum and medically refractory epilepsy who underwent stereoelectroencephalography. This identified a left frontal ictal focus and revealed that contralateral spread occurred though the anterior commissure, a rare and interesting occurrence. Left frontal resection resulted in significant improvement. This demonstrates the role of the anterior commissure in ictal spread and the potential for novel methods of seizure spread in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy that must be considered in a surgical approach.

Background and purpose: Refractory epilepsy is when seizures are unresponsive to two or more medications. Hemispherectomy, one of the treatment options, is the complete removal or functional disconnection of a cerebral hemisphere. Hemiparesis, a symptom of epilepsy, is defined as weakness of one side of the body. Patients with refractory epilepsy, who experience extreme seizure frequency, are subjected to hemispherectomy. This study focuses on finding the correlation between hemispherectomy and hemiparesis, discovering a pattern in its severity levels before and after surgery.

Methods: Data was collected from 59 epileptic patients suffering from refractory epilepsy, who underwent hemispherectomy, at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, from 1998 to 2014. Each patient was monitored over a period of 1-year post-surgery. In this study, we wanted to further explore the correlation between hemispherectomy and hemiparesis.

Results: Upon analyzing the sample size, the level of hemiparesis pre and post hemispherectomy remained the same for 32 patients, of which 13 patients had mild levels pre-surgery and 19 patients had moderate to severe levels pre-surgery. However, 20 of the patients who had moderate to severe levels of hemiparesis before the surgery had either no hemiparesis or a mild level after surgery, which signified an improvement in their severity level. On the other hand, seven of the patients went from having no hemiparesis before the surgery to having moderate or severe levels of hemiparesis post-surgery. Although the results were clinically significant, they were not statistically significant as the p-value obtained was 0.31.

Conclusions: After analyzing the results, it can be concluded that hemispherectomy does decrease the severity of hemiparesis in an epileptic patient, thereby improving his/her quality of life drastically.

Background and purpose: Patients who are non-adherent to their medication are frequently hospitalized with prolonged lengths of stay and make repeated emergency department visits. They are also more likely to miss work or school due to the seizure effects. In Ethiopia, although there is little evidence concerning anti-epileptic drug adherence, some studies were conducted with some controversy with studies done in another country. This study was therefore conducted to assess non-adherence to antiepileptic drugs and associated factors among adult epileptic patients attending in Dessie town public hospitals, northeast Ethiopia.

Methods: Hospital-based cross-sectional study design was employed on 368 patients from January 16, 2018 to March 16, 2018. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to recruit study participants. The collected data were entered into EpiData 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 22.0 for analysis. All covariates that were significant at p-value <0.25 in the bivariate logistic regression analysis were considered for further multivariable logistic regression analysis level of statistical significance at p-value <0.05.

Results: Among the respondents, 37.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 32.1-42.9) of them were non-adhered to antiepileptic drugs. Patients who were unable to write and read (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 22.30; 95% CI, 5.84-85.21), primary education level (aOR, 5.63; 95% CI, 1.90-16.69), being male (aOR, 2.37; 95% CI, 1.33-4.23), experience adverse effect (aOR, 13.68; 95% CI, 3.27-56.97), patients got medication by payment (aOR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.04-4.11) were statistically associated with non-adherence.

Conclusions: This study revealed that over one-third of participants were non-adherent to antiepileptic drugs. Sex, educational level, adverse effect, and medication source were independent factors for non-adherence to antiepileptic drugs. Therefore, educations and instructions about the importance of recommended drug use can improve antiepileptic drug adherence in patients with epilepsy.

Background and purpose: Risk of seizure is significantly higher in cerebral vein and dural sinus thrombosis (CVST) compared to other stroke subtypes. There is paucity of literature on predictors of presenting seizures in CVST. This study was designed to investigate the risk and predictors of seizures in CVST at presentation.

Methods: Total 181 consecutive patients with CVST were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: Total 181 patients with CVST were enrolled (age range, 14 to 96 years; mean age, 34.64±14.66 years). A total of 44 patients had presenting seizures. Younger age (p=0.028), involvement of superficial cortical veins (p=0.016), presence of hemorrhagic venous infarct (p≤0.001) and involvement of frontal lobe (p≤0.001) were significantly related to the presenting seizures on the univariate analysis. The hemorrhagic venous infarct (odds ratio [OR], 4.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.89-10.44; p=0.001) and involvement of the frontal lobe (OR, 10.66; 95% CI, 4.02-28.29; p≤0.001) were independently associated with the presenting seizures on the multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: About one fourth of the patients with CVST had presenting seizures. The patients with hemorrhagic venous infarct in the frontal region are more prone to have presenting seizures.

The 15q13.3 microdeletion (microdel15q13.3) syndrome (OMIM 612001) has been reported in healthy subjects as well as in individuals with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from mild to severe neurological disorders, including developmental delay/intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, epilepsy, behavioral problems and speech dysfunction. This study explored the link between this genomic rearrangement and nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE), which could improve the clinical interpretation. A clinical and genomic investigation was carried out on an 8-year-girl with a de novo deletion flanking the breakpoints (BPs) 4 and 5 of 15q13.3 detected by array comparative genomic hybridization analysis, affected by NFLE, migraine with aura, minor facial features, mild cognitive and language impairment, and circumscribed hypertrichosis. Literature survey of clinical studies was included. Nine years follow-up have displayed a benign course of the epileptic disorder with a progressive reduction and disappearance of the epileptic seizures, mild improvement of cognitive and language skills, partial cutaneous hypertrichosis regression, but stable ongoing of migraine episodes. A likely relationship between the BP4-BP5 deletion and NFLE with other symptoms presented by the girl is discussed together with a review of the literature on phenotypic features in microdel15q13.3.

Phenytoin (diphenylhydantoin) is a widely used antiepileptic drug for controlling both generalized and partial seizures. Reversible cerebellar symptoms, including cerebellar ataxia, have been recognized as an adverse event of phenytoin use for many years. On the other hand, cerebellar degeneration has been reported with chronic use in an epileptic patient treated with this drug. We are reporting an interesting case of phenytoin induced acute pan-cerebellar syndrome with cerebellar atrophy on neuro-imaging that improved many years after discontinuation of the drug. Discontinuation of phenytoin may give a chance for the patient to recover slowly, months after stopping the drug. It is very important for the attending neurologist to educate the patients and their families on some common clinical manifestations suggestive of drug toxicity and perform a regular follow-up and clinical examination at regular intervals.

Background and purpose: Epilepsy is a neuropsychological disorder which can lead to various cognitive deficits of varying levels. Primary generalized epilepsy is characterized by bilateral ictal electroencephalography patterns and excessive neural activity found in both hemispheres of the brain. There is dearth of research on primary generalized epilepsy in adult population. The present study investigates the visual motor and executive functioning deficits in patients with primary generalized epilepsy.

Methods: Study was conducted on 30 participants (n=30) divided into target and normal control group. Target group consisted of patients diagnosed with primary generalized epilepsy with minimum 5 years of illness. Bender-Gestalt test (BGT) and Wisconsin's Card Sorting Test (WCST) was administered on both the groups.

Results: A significant difference was found between target group and control group's performances on BGT which indicates that visual motor functioning of control group was better than target group. A significant difference in executive functioning was found in performance of epilepsy patients and non-patients on the domains of WCST.

Conclusions: Both executive and visuomotor functioning are significantly affected in patients of primary generalized epilepsy in adult patients.

Seizures in aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) have been described secondary to SAH, changes in cortical function, vasospasm and as a result of treatment effects. Seizures are one of the important clinical determinants in neurological outcome of aSAH. Various studies support the notion of less risk of future seizures in endovascular treatment as compared to the microsurgical clipping, yet there is no conclusive evidence in favour or against the seizure occurrence in aSAH patients after endovascular treatment as compared to the microsurgical treatment. To carry out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the risk of seizures after endovascular management (coiling) of ruptured intracranial aneurysms. A literature search was performed in electronic database of PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, and Scopus from inception to February 2020, using the terms Seizure, Intracranial aneurysms, embolization, with no constraints applied. Data were pooled using a random-effect model, results were abstracted as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI), and heterogeneity was reported as Chi-square. Five studies involving 3,077 patients were included in the meta-analysis. After endovascular management of aSAH, seizure risk was increased by a worse clinical severity (World Federation of Neurosurgery scale or Hunt and Hess) (OR, 3.34; 95% CI, 2.69-4.16; p<0.00001), severe vasospasm (OR, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.67-2.92; p<0.00001), cerebral infarction (OR, 5.19; 95% CI, 3.23-8.35; p<0.00001), and cerebral edema (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.37-2.34; p<0.0000). Worse clinical severity, vasospasm, cerebral infarction and cerebral oedema are significant risk factors for the development of seizures after endovascular intervention in aSAH. The mechanism for this correlation is not clear.