Post-stroke epilepsy.

Epilepsy as a result of stroke is currently the most rapidly increasing form of epilepsy. The risk of post-stroke epileptogenesis is higher after haemorrhagic stroke than after ischemic stroke. We provide here a brief clinical review of the topic to highlight the misinterpretation and undertreatment of focal epileptic seizures in stroke patients.

Impaired executive functioning in children of women with epilepsy.

Objective: While neurodevelopmental symptoms are often seen in children of mothers with epilepsy, research specifically addressing executive function (EF) in this population is limited. This study aims to investigate EF in children of mothers with epilepsy, both with and without fetal exposure to anti-seizure medications, compared to typically developing children whose mothers do not have epilepsy.

Methods: We evaluated EF in children aged 8 to 17 years born to mothers with clinically validated diagnoses of epilepsy, using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function completed by the mothers.

[A man in his fifties with variable weakness and difficulty in walking].

Background: An active man in his fifties was treated for atrial fibrillation with ablation. One week later he noticed variable weakness in his lower extremities. In the days that followed, his symptoms improved but could vary from day to day.

Pharmacokinetic variability of valproate during pregnancy - Implications for the use of therapeutic drug monitoring.

Background And Purpose: Use of valproate (VPA) in women of childbearing age is restricted due to dose-dependent risk of teratogenicity. The purpose of this study was to characterise pharmacokinetic variability of VPA in pregnancy, and discuss use of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) as guidance to exposure in women.

Method: Measurements of trough total and unbound VPA concentrations before, during and after pregnancy, at assumed steady-state were collected from the TDM-database (2006-2016) at the National Center for Epilepsy in Norway.

Pharmacokinetic variability of valproate in women of childbearing age.

The purpose was to investigate pharmacokinetic variability of valproic acid (VPA) in women of childbearing age by therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) data to elucidate the variable relationship between dose and serum concentrations with the ultimate aim of facilitating safer use of VPA. Anonymized retrospective data from the TDM database (2006-2015) at the National Center for Epilepsy in Norway were used. Trough total concentrations of VPA at assumed steady state in women aged 14-46 years were analyzed.

[Idiopathic intracranial hypertension as a cause of headache].

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is characterised by increased intracranial pressure with normal cerebrospinal fluid, and no evidence of space occupying process, meningeal pathology or venous thrombosis. The condition is associated with obesity, especially in women of childbearing age. IIH is a rare but serious cause of headache, and constitutes a differential diagnosis for sudden-onset headache, particularly if the patient has visual disturbances not related to migraine and reports pulsatile tinnitus, cranial nerve palsy or radiculopathy.

Age-specific birth rates in women with epilepsy: a population-based study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate birth rates and use of hormonal contraception in different age groups among women with epilepsy (WWE) in comparison to women without epilepsy.

Materials And Methods: Demographic data and medical information on more than 25,000 pregnant women (40,000 births), representing 95% of all pregnancies in Oppland County, Norway, were registered in the Oppland Perinatal Database in the period 1989-2011. Data were analyzed with respect to epilepsy diagnoses, and 176 women with a validated epilepsy diagnosis (303 pregnancies) were identified.

Intrauterine growth retardation in foetuses of women with epilepsy.

Purpose: Various factors may affect intrauterine foetal growth, amongst which conditions such as epilepsy and the use of anti-epileptic drugs (AED) may play a role. This study investigated intrauterine growth of foetuses in women with epilepsy, as compared with controls, and explored whether intrauterine growth was affected by prenatal exposure to AED.

Method: Data were obtained from prospectively registered data regarding pregnancy and prenatal and perinatal factors in women in Oppland County in Norway.

[Polyunsaturated fatty acids and epilepsy].

Background: 30 % of patients with epilepsy have recurrent drug-resistent seizures. Some children with catastrophic epilepsy have responded well to a ketogenic diet. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are at least partly responsible for the anticonvulsive effect of this diet and could perhaps be used to treat epilepsy.