Epilepsy News

T Cell-Mediated Targeting of Interneurons in Mice Shapes Hippocampal Remodeling and Epilepsy - OBJECTIVE: Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) is associated with autoantibodies targeting distinct neuronal populations. In AE, antibodies against glutamate decarboxylase 65 (GAD65), expressed in GABAergic interneurons, are frequently detected. In GAD65-AE, hippocampal biopsies often show infiltrates of CD8^(+) cytotoxic T cells (CTLs), suggesting a prominent T cell-associated pathology. This has led...

Status Epilepticus and Lateralized Periodic Discharges (LPDs) in Cannabis Withdrawal Syndrome: A Case Report and Review of the Literature - Withdrawal syndrome is relatively common among chronic cannabis users. It generally manifests as psychiatric disorders and, in rare cases, as epileptic seizures. We report the case of a 53-year-old female patient who, following the abrupt cessation of her chronic and daily cannabis use, presented with a tonic-clonic status epilepticus. She was treated with midazolam and phenobarbital. The elect...

When Mind Hurts the Skin: A Rare Case of Dermatitis Artefacta in an Epileptic Female - DA is an uncommon psychocutaneous disorder in which the patient intentionally induces lesions to satisfy a subconscious psychological need and, at the same time, denies self-harm. DA typically presents as bizarre, well-demarcated lesions in accessible areas. Diagnosis is based on the suspicion and exclusion of organic causes. A 27-year-old married woman presented with painful, slow-healing ulce...

Implantable vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of disorders of consciousness with epilepsy: a retrospective propensity score-matched clinical study - CONCLUSION: Implantable VNS was associated with higher 1-year clinically meaningful improvement and greater longitudinal CRS-R gains than conservative management in DoC patients with epilepsy. Prospective controlled studies are warranted.

Longitudinal association of subjective sleep quality and health-related quality of life improvements with Vagus nerve stimulation in drug-resistant epilepsy: a 24-month retrospective cohort study - CONCLUSION: VNS therapy provides significant, progressive, and sustained improvements in subjective sleep quality and overall HRQOL in adult patients with DRE. Furthermore, these neurobehavioral benefits demonstrate a robust adjusted longitudinal association that is not exclusively tethered to the degree of seizure-frequency reduction. However, causality and complete physiological independence ...

Cost-effectiveness of vagus nerve stimulation therapy for drug-resistant epilepsy across healthcare settings: a structured narrative review - Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) is associated with substantial healthcare utilization, impaired quality of life (QOL), and considerable societal costs. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has become an established adjunctive treatment for patients who are not suitable candidates for resective epilepsy surgery or who fail to achieve adequate seizure control with pharmacotherapy. This structured narrativ...

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.