Housam Soboh, Jacques Theitler, Revital Gandelman-Marton
{"title":"Primary treatment gap among adults with epilepsy: A cross-sectional analysis.","authors":"Housam Soboh, Jacques Theitler, Revital Gandelman-Marton","doi":"10.1002/epd2.20275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/epd2.20275","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Despite recommendations to initiate antiseizure medication treatment once the diagnosis of epilepsy is confirmed, a certain proportion of patients with epilepsy who should receive antiseizure medication treatment remain untreated. We aimed to evaluate the rate of and the reasons for the treatment gap in patients with epilepsy who were referred to their first visit in our epilepsy clinic.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We retrospectively reviewed the computerized database and the medical records of all the patients with epilepsy who had their first visit in our outpatient epilepsy clinic during a 10-year period (2012-2021).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Forty-nine (6.5%) of 746 patients with epilepsy were not treated with antiseizure medications: 27 (3.6%) were nonadherent to treatment, 12 (1.6%) patients were not definitively diagnosed with epilepsy prior to their first epilepsy clinic visit, and in 10 (1.3%) patients antiseizure medication treatment was not recommended. Untreated patients had shorter epilepsy duration compared to patients treated with antiseizure medications (p = .003). At last follow-up, 77% of the untreated patients at first visit were receiving antiseizure medications compared to 97% of the initially treated group, and fewer were receiving antiseizure medication polytherapy (p = .0001).</p><p><strong>Significance: </strong>Although the rate of treatment gap was relatively low, we believe that it should be further reduced. Efforts may focus on addressing individual causes of nonadherence to antiseizure medication treatment and on promoting knowledge of diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy among healthcare professionals.</p>","PeriodicalId":50508,"journal":{"name":"Epileptic Disorders","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142134353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Miguel Leal Rato, Miguel Schön, Maria Paula Zafra, Diana Aguiar de Sousa, Teresa Pinho E Melo, Ana Catarina Franco, Ana Rita Peralta, Carolina Ferreira-Atuesta, Luis Carlos Mayor-Romero, Rob P W Rouhl, Carla Bentes
{"title":"Acute symptomatic seizures in patients with recurrent ischemic stroke: A multicentric study.","authors":"Miguel Leal Rato, Miguel Schön, Maria Paula Zafra, Diana Aguiar de Sousa, Teresa Pinho E Melo, Ana Catarina Franco, Ana Rita Peralta, Carolina Ferreira-Atuesta, Luis Carlos Mayor-Romero, Rob P W Rouhl, Carla Bentes","doi":"10.1002/epd2.20279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/epd2.20279","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Epileptic seizures occur frequently after stroke due to changes in brain function and structure, and up to around 10% of stroke patients experience stroke recurrence in the first year. We aimed to establish the risk of acute symptomatic seizures in patients with recurrent stroke.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Retrospective cohort study including consecutive admissions to a Stroke Unit due to acute ischemic stroke, during a 5-year period. Additional inclusion of patients admitted to two centers in different countries to corroborate findings (confirmatory cohort). We aimed to compare acute symptomatic seizure incidence in patients with and without previous stroke. Patients with history of epilepsy were excluded. Logistic regression modeling was performed to identify predictors in middle cerebral artery (MCA) stroke.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We included 1473 patients (1085 with MCA stroke), of which 117 had a recurrent ischemic stroke (84 with MCA stroke). Patients with recurrent stroke had a seizure risk during hospital stay similar to that of patients with a first-ever stroke (5.1% vs. 4.5%, OR 1.15, 95% CI .48-2.71, p = .75). Risk of acute symptomatic seizures was also similar (5.0% vs. 4.1, OR 1.22, 95% CI .29-5.27, p = .78). Older age, female sex, and hemorrhagic transformation were predictors of seizures in patients with a first MCA ischemic stroke, but not in recurrent stroke patients. Electrographic characteristics were similar between the two groups in patients who had an electroencephalogram (46 with first stroke, 5 with recurrent stroke). The low rate of seizures (1.5%) in the confirmatory cohort (n = 198) precluded full comparison with the initial cohort. Nevertheless, the rate of seizures was not higher in stroke recurrence.</p><p><strong>Significance: </strong>History of previous stroke was not associated with an increased risk of acute symptomatic seizures during hospital stay. Larger, prospective studies, with prospective electrophysiological evaluation, are needed to explore the impact of stroke recurrence on seizure risk.</p>","PeriodicalId":50508,"journal":{"name":"Epileptic Disorders","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142134352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mosaic CLTC pathogenic variant causing focal epilepsy with normal intelligence.","authors":"Michelle A Sveistrup, Kenneth A Myers","doi":"10.1002/epd2.20270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/epd2.20270","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50508,"journal":{"name":"Epileptic Disorders","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142141606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Camilo Espinosa-Jovel, Sandra Riveros, Natalia Valencia-Enciso, Alberto Velásquez, Juan Vergara-Palma, Fidel Sobrino-Mejía
{"title":"Seizure emergency code strategy: Improving treatment times and hospital outcomes for patients with urgent epileptic seizures.","authors":"Camilo Espinosa-Jovel, Sandra Riveros, Natalia Valencia-Enciso, Alberto Velásquez, Juan Vergara-Palma, Fidel Sobrino-Mejía","doi":"10.1002/epd2.20273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/epd2.20273","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Timely treatment is one of the most relevant prognostic factors in patients with urgent epileptic seizures. Despite the available evidence, treatment times remain suboptimal. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the impact of the \"seizure code\" in an emergency department, focusing on both treatment times and hospital outcomes of patients with urgent epileptic seizures.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>An ambispective cohort study was conducted in the emergency department of a public hospital in Bogotá, Colombia. Treatment times and hospital outcomes were evaluated both before and after the implementation of the seizure code.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 336 patients were included (94 in the pre-seizure code period and 242 in the post-seizure code period). Both cohorts were comparable in terms of clinical and demographic baseline characteristics. After the implementation of the seizure code, in-hospital treatment times improved among patients with status epilepticus and seizure cluster. For the group of patients with status epilepticus, the time from arrival to the first benzodiazepine decreased from a median of 100.5 min (IQR: 43-152.5) to a median of 20 min (IQR: 10-45) (p = .0063), and the time from arrival to the first non-benzodiazepine antiseizure medication decreased from a median of 155 min (IQR: 49-194) to a median of 39 min (IQR: 25-57) (p = .0071). For the group of patients with seizure cluster, the time from arrival to the first non-benzodiazepine antiseizure medication decreased from a median of 296 min (IQR: 112.5-409) to a median of 72 min (IQR: 46-111) (p < .001). The seizure code significantly decreased the risk of inappropriate benzodiazepine use (p = .0087), in-hospital seizure recurrence (p < .001), in-hospital mortality (p = .0074), and prolonged hospitalizations (more than 48 h) (p = .0475).</p><p><strong>Significance: </strong>The seizure code shortens the time to treatment, reduces the length of hospital stay, decreases the risk of inappropriate benzodiazepine use, and lowers both the in-hospital seizure recurrence and in-hospital mortality among patients with urgent epileptic seizures.</p>","PeriodicalId":50508,"journal":{"name":"Epileptic Disorders","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142005772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xing-Chang Wei, Zarina Assis, Martin Sherriff, Walter J Hader, Juan Pablo Appendino
{"title":"Superior lesion detection on 3D FSE T1WI with magnetization transfer and CHESS preparation pulses in children with focal epilepsy: Preliminary results.","authors":"Xing-Chang Wei, Zarina Assis, Martin Sherriff, Walter J Hader, Juan Pablo Appendino","doi":"10.1002/epd2.20271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/epd2.20271","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In childhood drug-resistant focal epilepsy, the identification of a magnetic resonance imaging lesion significantly affects the management and prognosis, although it is often challenging. Herein we report the preliminary results of a modified MR sequence, in which both magnetization transfer and chemical shift selective preparation pulses are added to a 3D fast spin echo T1-weighted sequence to recognize focal cortical dysplasia. The scan time is short, and the images have expected uniform suppression of the background normal gray and white matter. We report four children with focal epilepsy, in whom the focal cortical and subcortical lesions are superiorly conspicuous on the aforementioned MR sequence compared to the high-resolution fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images obtained with typical epilepsy MR protocols.</p>","PeriodicalId":50508,"journal":{"name":"Epileptic Disorders","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141989327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bruce Hermann, Robyn M. Busch, Anny Reyes, Kayela Arrotta, Mayu Fujikawa, Victoria Ives-Deliperi, Aimee Dollman, Urvashi Shah, Carrie R. McDonald
{"title":"A user's guide for the International Classification of Cognitive Disorders in Epilepsy","authors":"Bruce Hermann, Robyn M. Busch, Anny Reyes, Kayela Arrotta, Mayu Fujikawa, Victoria Ives-Deliperi, Aimee Dollman, Urvashi Shah, Carrie R. McDonald","doi":"10.1002/epd2.20268","DOIUrl":"10.1002/epd2.20268","url":null,"abstract":"<p>To present the background, rationale, details pertaining to use and essential computational steps, synopsis of findings to date, and future directions for the International Classification of Cognitive Disorders in Epilepsy (IC-CoDE)—an initiative of the ILAE Neuropsychology Task Force. Examined are: (a) the 6 steps leading to the derivation of a cognitive phenotype from neuropsychological test data with an accompanying case example, (b) concise review of all IC-CoDE research to date, (c) summary of identified correlates of IC-CoDE outcomes, and (d) future research and clinical directions for the initiative. The IC-CoDE is computationally uncomplicated with individual or group data and represents a novel approach leading to new insights in the neuropsychology of epilepsy, with applications to diverse datasets internationally informing the reliability and validity of the approach. The IC-CoDE represents a novel approach to the analysis and interpretation of neuropsychological data in epilepsy that offers to advance a global taxonomy of cognitive disorders in epilepsy facilitating international collaboration and big data science.</p>","PeriodicalId":50508,"journal":{"name":"Epileptic Disorders","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/epd2.20268","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141977076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roberto Michelucci, Elena Pasini, Patrizia Riguzzi, Maria Tappatà, Maria Pia Giannoccaro, Elisa Micalizzi, Anastasia Lechiara, Pietro Mattioli, Luana Benedetti, Flavio Villani
{"title":"CASPR2‐related epilepsy: A distinctive and unrecognized form of epilepsy in adult and elderly males","authors":"Roberto Michelucci, Elena Pasini, Patrizia Riguzzi, Maria Tappatà, Maria Pia Giannoccaro, Elisa Micalizzi, Anastasia Lechiara, Pietro Mattioli, Luana Benedetti, Flavio Villani","doi":"10.1002/epd2.20269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/epd2.20269","url":null,"abstract":"ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to describe the clinical features of contactin‐associated protein‐like 2 (CASPR2)‐IgG‐associated seizures.MethodsNine patients were retrospectively collected from two epilepsy centers. For each patient we obtained a full clinical, neurophysiological, and MRI study along with detection of antineuronal autoantibodies from serum and CSF. The patients were followed up for 1–6 years.ResultsThe patients were nine male subjects aged 56–85 years (mean: 66) with a 1‐ to 14‐year (mean: 6,3 median: 6) history of seizures. The seizures were classified as focal onset seizures with impaired awareness, usually preceded by epigastric aura (two), piloerection (two), olfactory hallucinations (two), nausea and dizziness (one). Tonic–clonic seizures were present in five patients. Seizure frequency was high in six cases and sporadic in three. Most patients reported memory impairment (eight) or behavioral/mood changes (four). Interictal EEGs usually showed bilateral or unilateral temporal epileptiform abnormalities. A number of seizures arising from the temporal lobes, with bilateral asynchronous onset, were recorded on long‐term video‐EEG monitoring in two patients. MRI disclosed nonspecific white matter T2 hyperintensities suggestive of chronic vascular changes in four patients and bilateral T2‐FLAIR amygdalo‐hippocampal hyperintensity in three cases. Neuropsychological study demonstrated various degrees of cognitive impairment in the majority of cases. Increased titers of CASPR2 autoantibodies were detected in the serum and CSF, which persisted over time in four cases. Drug resistance to common anti‐seizure medications was present in seven cases who benefited from immunotherapy.SignificanceCASPR2‐IgG testing should be performed among old male patients with a recent or even not recent onset of focal seizures with impaired awareness particularly when these seizures are accompanied by cognitive impairment or behavioral disturbances. In these cases, anti‐seizure medications may be ineffective while immunotherapy may lead to a prompt improvement of seizures and cognitive deficits.","PeriodicalId":50508,"journal":{"name":"Epileptic Disorders","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141944205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}