Epilepsy News

Brivaracetam as viable monotherapy option for focal and generalized epilepsy - CONCLUSION: In this retrospective real-world cohort, BRV monotherapy was associated with favorable short-term seizure outcomes and good tolerability. Particularly favorable outcomes were observed after conversion from LEV. Although long-term retention decreased over time, a substantial proportion of patients continued to benefit from BRV monotherapy over a two-year period, despite BRV being the...

Rest-activity patterns across development in two mouse models of autism and epilepsy - OBJECTIVE: Sleep disturbances are common in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and epilepsy and are increasingly recognized as comorbidities that affect disease severity and quality of life. This study investigated rest-activity patterns across development in two genetic mouse models relevant to ASD and epilepsy: synapsin 2 (Syn2) and contactin-associated protein-like 2 (Cntnap2) k...

Altered autonomic balance drives the increase in cardiac output and arterial pressure during convulsive seizures in nonanesthetized sheep - OBJECTIVE: Preclinical and human studies suggest that ictal and interictal modulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems contributes to cardiovascular changes that may induce sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. We therefore investigated the effects of convulsive seizures on cardiovascular and autonomic function in nonanesthetized sheep.

Prolonged fenfluramine use in open-label studies of Dravet or Lennox-Gastaut syndromes: Long-term safety, tolerability, patient global functioning, and considerations for interpreting effectiveness - OBJECTIVE: Long-term safety and global functioning are reported in patients with Dravet syndrome (DS) or Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) treated with fenfluramine in an open-label extension (OLE) study after participating in a previous open-label feeder study.

Neurologic sequelae of cerebral malaria and other forms of severe malaria in children - CONCLUSION: Neurologic sequelae, particularly epilepsy, are more common in CM than other forms of severe malaria, but occur rarely in non-cerebral severe malaria.

Wnt activation during epileptogenesis prevents pathological immature dentate granule cell morphological changes in animal models of unilateral and bilateral temporal lobe epilepsy - Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) most commonly presents clinically with unilateral or bilateral hippocampal seizure onsets. Antiseizure medications are often ineffective, and epilepsy surgery outcomes are variable. TLE often occurs after exposure to risk factors; this latent period provides the opportunity for preventative treatments, however, there are currently no clinically approved anti-epilept...

Brain signal irregularity may provide clues to understanding epileptic process - Researchers propose a new method to differentiate signals from the epileptic focus from those recorded in other parts of the brain without the presence of an epileptic seizure. This technique may help detect epilepsy-induced features from these signals much quicker than conventional analysis techniques.

Breakthrough tech enables seizure localization in minutes - New research introduces a novel network analysis technology that uses minimally invasive resting state electrophysiological recordings to localize seizure onset brain regions and predict seizure outcomes in just 10 minutes.

Antidepressant use during pregnancy not linked to epilepsy in children - A new study suggests that antidepressant use by mothers during the first trimester of pregnancy does not increase the chances of epilepsy and seizures in babies.