Publications by authors named "Clara Tonini"
The effectiveness of epilepsy surgery is mostly based on the results of observational studies because an experimental design in surgical patients has several ethical implications. However, observational studies suffer from methodological drawbacks, which prevent meaningful conclusions and represent a serious limitation when data from different reports are pooled for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. These include the retrospective design, the use of referral populations, the small sample size, the enrolment of patients at differing inception points, the use of differing inclusion criteria, differing definitions of prognostic predictors and outcome measures, the unmasked assessment of outcome, the short follow-up, the changing technologies and surgical procedures, and the inadequate statistical methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate the value of alternative monotherapy versus adjunctive therapy in partial epilepsy refractory to single antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy.
Design And Methods: In a multicentre, parallel-group, open-label study, patients with cryptogenic or symptomatic partial epilepsy not controlled after single or sequential AED monotherapies were randomised to monotherapy with an alternative AED or to adjunctive therapy with a second AED. The AED to be added/substituted and dose adjustments were determined by the physician's best judgement.
Background: The El Escorial diagnostic criteria are the most commonly used in clinical studies and therapeutic trials in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The accuracy of the El Escorial criteria was tested in clinical practice, but the reliability is unknown when the diagnosis of ALS must be assessed on the basis of medical records.
Objective: To assess the reliability of the El Escorial criteria for the diagnosis of ALS in different settings.