Cardiac Autonomic Dysfunction and Risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy.

Objective: We aimed to test whether patients who died of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) had an abnormal cardiac autonomic response to sympathetic stimulation by hyperventilation.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational, case-control study of a group of patients who died of SUDEP and controls who were matched to the patients for epilepsy type, drug resistance, sex, age at EEG recording, age at onset of epilepsy, and duration of epilepsy. We analyzed the heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) at rest and during and after hyperventilation performed during the patient's last EEG recording before SUDEP.

Vitamin D status among patients with drug-resistant and non-drug-resistant epilepsy.

: Epilepsy affects nearly 70 million people worldwide. Vitamin D deficiency may influence the balance of certain epilepsies. The purpose of this study was to determine the vitamin D status and anthropometric measurements of people with epilepsy (PWE), according to their pharmacosensitivity.

[Drug Shortage May Have Serious Outcome: the French Exemple of Phenytoine].

In 2012, in France, phenytoin sodium was used as a substitute for phenytoin base during a shortage at the dose of 100 mg for 100 mg, according to the French Health Agency recommendations. However, this substitution was problematic because the two specialties were not bioequivalent. We report here the case of a 29-year old woman who presented with severe epilepsy.

Probable drug-induced liver injury associated with aliskiren: case report and review of adverse event reports from pharmacovigilance databases.

Purpose: A case of probable drug-induced liver injury (DILI) attributed to use of the antihypertensive agent aliskiren is reported.

Summary: A 61-year-old woman undergoing routine liver function monitoring in conjunction with long-term antiepileptic therapy was noted to have an asymptomatic acute hepatic cytolysis 1 month after the initiation of concomitant aliskiren therapy (150 mg/day). Liver enzyme testing showed dramatically elevated aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) concentrations, with substantial rises also noted in γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels.

Etiologies of epilepsy: a comprehensive review.

Epilepsy is a heterogeneous disorder, the symptoms of which are preventable and controllable to some extent. Significant inter- and intra-country differences in incidence and prevalence exist because multiple etiologic factors are implicated. Many past reviews have addressed sole etiologies.

Malnutrition and epilepsy: a two-way relationship.

Background & Aims: A link between malnutrition and epilepsy has been suspected for many years.

Methods: Different aspects of the question were studied with a review of previous published data.

Results: Several studies performed on animal models or humans highlight the possible adverse effects of malnutrition in the onset of seizures.