Publications by authors named "Alexandre Rainha Campos"

Article Synopsis
  • Adenosine acts as a natural anticonvulsant through adenosine receptors (AR), but developing drugs that target these receptors has been challenging due to potential cardiac side effects.
  • The study examined the effects of a selective AR agonist called MRS5474 on excitatory and inhibitory signals in the hippocampus, using both rodent and human tissue samples.
  • Results showed that MRS5474 does not affect normal excitatory signals but enhances GABAergic currents in tissue from patients with epilepsy, suggesting its potential as a targeted antiseizure medication through activation of AR in epileptic conditions.
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Article Synopsis
  • Severe drug-resistant unilateral hemispheric epilepsy presents surgical challenges, leading to a shift from anatomical hemispherectomy to functional hemispherotomy, which has lower complications and improved outcomes.
  • A consensus statement was created by European epilepsy surgeons to outline history, indications, surgical techniques, and complications for hemispheric disconnection procedures.
  • This paper represents the first European consensus on the topic, providing an overview of current practices and emphasizing the need for further long-term outcome data, especially regarding minimal invasive techniques.
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Background: Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is a major contributor to epilepsy; however, patients with epilepsy also have a significantly increased risk of stroke. The way in which epilepsy contributes to the increased risk of stroke is still uncertain and is ill-characterized in neuropathological studies. A neuropathological characterization of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) in patients with chronic epilepsy was performed.

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Background And Objectives: The efficacy of deep brain stimulation of the anterior nucleus of the thalamus (ANT DBS) in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) was demonstrated in the double-blind Stimulation of the Anterior Nucleus of the Thalamus for Epilepsy randomized controlled trial. The Medtronic Registry for Epilepsy (MORE) aims to understand the safety and longer-term effectiveness of ANT DBS therapy in routine clinical practice.

Methods: MORE is an observational registry collecting prospective and retrospective clinical data.

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Article Synopsis
  • The research involved 850 adults from nine international epilepsy centers, focusing on those who were seizure-free besides minor types before withdrawing medication post-surgery.
  • Predictive models were created to determine the risk of seizures returning, with key factors being certain types of seizures after surgery, prior history of specific seizures, the timing of medication withdrawal, and the number of meds taken at surgery, showing a moderate level of accuracy in predicting outcomes.
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  • The study investigates the clinical impact of brain biopsy results on the management of nonneoplastic brain diseases, noting the challenges and risks involved in such procedures.
  • A retrospective analysis of 64 patients showed that brain biopsy was diagnostic in 71.9% of cases, resulting in a significant treatment change for 57.8% of the patients studied.
  • Although brain biopsy demonstrated a high diagnostic yield and clinical impact, the associated complication rate (6.6%) emphasizes the need for careful patient selection and risk assessment prior to the procedure.
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Background: People with gliomas need specialized neurosurgical, neuro-oncological, psycho-oncological, and neuropsychological care. The role of language and cognitive recovery and rehabilitation in patients' well-being and resumption of work is crucial, but there are no clear guidelines for the ideal timing and character of assessments and interventions. The goal of the present work was to describe representative (neuro)psychological practices implemented after brain surgery in Europe.

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Introduction: Deep brain stimulation of the anterior nucleus of thalamus (ANT-DBS) is an approved procedure for drug-resistant epilepsy. However, the preferred location inside ANT is not well known. In this study, we investigated the relationship between stereotactical coordinates of stimulated contacts and clinical improvement, in order to define the ideal target for ANT-DBS.

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Intraventricular gangliogliomas presenting with spontaneous hemorrhage are rare. Due to high density of important tracts lateral to the ventricular atrium, the intraparietal trans sulcal approach is a good option to remove lesions in this location. These tracts are displaced and sometimes destroyed by the presence of large masses.

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A thorough assessment of the extent and severity of spasticity, and its effect on functioning, is central to the effective management of spasticity in persons with spinal cord damage (SCD). These individuals however do not always receive adequate assessment of their spasticity. Inadequate assessment compromises management when the effect of spasticity and/or need for intervention are not fully recognized.

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Background: The goal of the present study is the evaluation of the long-term clinical outcome of epilepsy in patients with mesial temporal lobe sclerosis (MTLS) submitted to amygdalohippocampotomy (AHCo). AHCo consists of the lateral ablation of the amygdala and the peri-hippocampal disconnection instead of amygdalohippocampectomy (AHC), which involves the removal of both structures. We previously reported the short-term results of AHCo, so we here present the long-term results (> 5 years of follow-up) of the patients operated on with AHCo.

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Subcortical band heterotopia is a neuronal migration disorder that may cause refractory epilepsy. In these patients, resective surgery has yielded inadequate results. Deep brain stimulation of the anterior nuclei of the thalamus has been used for the treatment of refractory epilepsy with good results.

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Objective: The human nucleus accumbens (Acc) has become a target for deep brain stimulation (DBS) in some neuropsychiatric disorders. Nonetheless, even with the most recent advances in neuroimaging it remains difficult to accurately delineate the Acc and closely related subcortical structures, by conventional MRI sequences. It is our purpose to perform a MRI study of the human Acc and to determine whether there are reliable anatomical landmarks that enable the precise location and identification of the nucleus and its core/shell division.

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Object: The removal of mesial temporal structures, namely amygdalohippocampectomy, is the most efficient surgical procedure for the treatment of epilepsy. However, disconnection of the epileptogenic zones, as in temporal lobotomy or, for different purposes, hemispherotomy, have shown equivalent results with less morbidity. Thus, authors of the present study began performing selective amygdalohippocampotomy in cases of refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) to treat mesial temporal lobe sclerosis (MTLS).

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Tricellulin is a tight junction (TJ) protein, which is not only concentrated at tricellular contacts but also present at bicellular contacts between epithelial tissues. We scrutinized the brain for tricellulin expression in endothelial and neural cells by using real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blot and immunohistochemical and immunocytochemical analysis of cultured brain cells and paraffin sections of brain. Tricellulin mRNA was detected in primary cultures and in a cell line of human brain microvascular endothelial cells.

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