Effect of Sleep on Epileptic Discharges in Patients with Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy.

It is known that sleep and sleep deprivation affect the EEG findings, onset, frequency and semiology of the seizures. Generalized spike and wave discharges were found more common in drowsiness and sleep states, especially in childhood and juvenile absence epilepsy syndromes. In this study we aimed to show the effects of short sleep on the interictal and ictal discharges of the patients with genetic generalized epileptic seizures and to show the effects of treatment on the discharges during awake and sleep states.

Relation Between ILAE Hippocampal Sclerosis Classification and Clinical Findings in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between clinical features and prognosis of the hippocampal sclerosis (HS) cases and International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) histopathology classification.

Material And Methods: A hundred patients with refractory epilepsy who were operated with the diagnosis of the Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy were included in the study. Socio-demographic characteristics, clinical and family histories, post-operative ILAE and Engel epilepsy scores and diagnostic tests were recorded.

Evidence of linkage to chromosome 5p13.2-q11.1 in a large inbred family with genetic generalized epilepsy.

The clinical genetics of genetic generalized epilepsy suggests complex inheritance; large pedigrees, with multiple affected individuals, are rare exceptions. We studied a large consanguineous family from Turkey where extensive electroclinical phenotyping revealed a familial phenotype most closely resembling juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. For a subject to be considered affected (n = 14), a diagnostic electroencephalogram was required.

Neuronal autoantibodies in patients with Rasmussen's encephalitis.

Rasmussen's encephalitis (RE) is a rare disease with unknown pathophysiology. To disclose whether anti-neuronal autoimmunity participates in the aetiology of RE, various neuronal autoantibodies (NAAbs) were investigated in sera of patients with RE and controls. The study included five patients who fulfilled the RE diagnostic criteria (clinical, EEG, and MRI findings) as the patient group, and 50 multiple sclerosis patients and 50 healthy subjects as the control groups.

Outcome of surgical treatment of hippocampal sclerosis from relatively new epilepsy surgery center.

Background: Surgery is apparently superior to prolonged medical therapy in therapy of efficacy and safety for mesial temporal lobe epilepsies. We ‑ as a new center ‑ presented outcome results and possible outcome predictors of 50 consecutive patients with hippocampal sclerosis underwent resective epilepsy surgery.

Methods: Between 2006 and 2011, fifty patients with intractable mesial temporal lobe epilepsy due to hippocampal sclerosis underwent anterior temporal lobectomy and they were followed-up at least 1 year postoperatively.

Transcranial direct current stimulation improves seizure control in patients with Rasmussen encephalitis.

Rasmussen encephalitis is associated with severe seizures that are unresponsive to antiepileptic drugs, as well as immunosuppressants. Transcranial direct current stimulation (t-DCS) is a non-invasive and safe method tried mostly for focal epilepsies with different aetiologies. To date, there is only one published study with two case reports describing the effect of t-DCS in Rasmussen encephalitis.

Are There Any Specific EEG Findings in Autoimmune Epilepsies?

This study evaluated the EEG findings of patients whose seizures were associated with a possible autoimmune etiology. Our aim was to find clues to distinguish patients with antineuronal antibodies (Ab) through EEG studies. We reviewed our database and identified antineuronal Ab positive epilepsy patients with or without autoimmune encephalitis.

Rasmussen encephalitis and comorbid autoimmune diseases: A window into disease mechanism?

Objective: To describe a potential association between comorbid autoimmune disease and Rasmussen encephalitis (RE) and discuss potential insights into underlying RE pathogenesis.

Methods: We report a case series of 4 patients with RE in whom a comorbid autoimmune disease was subsequently diagnosed and review the literature on possible common susceptibility factors.

Results: In 4 patients who presented with typical clinical features of RE, a comorbid autoimmune disease was subsequently diagnosed: Hashimoto thyroiditis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease, and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Calcium channel antibodies in patients with absence epilepsy.

Autoimmunity has aroused interest in the last years as a contributory mechanism of epilepsy, especially in epilepsies with unknown cause or therapy resistance. Since the relationship of absence epilepsy (AE) with calcium channels is well established, we aimed to investigate related antibodies in patients diagnosed with AE. Consecutive patients with typical absence seizures having either childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) or juvenile absence epilepsy (JAE) with generalized spike and wave discharges on electroencephalography (EEG) were included after their consent.

Rasmussen's encephalitis and Behcet's disease: autoimmune disorders in first degree relatives.

We report a patient with adolescent-onset, Rasmussen's encephalitis, presenting with intractable focal seizures, mild hemiparesis, cognitive impairment, dystonia, and severe hemiballism. His father had Behcet's disease, considered to be an autoimmune disorder. Recent reports have directly implicated the role of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of both Rasmussen's encephalitis and Behcet's disease.

An unspecified clinical syndrome in mentally retarded patients with bilateral mesial temporal sclerosis.

Purpose: The association of febrile convulsions and mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) is a well-known phenomenon. However, the effects of mental retardation on febrile convulsions and MTS have not been investigated previously. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation of mental retardation to febrile convulsions especially as febrile status epilepticus and MTS.

Microsurgery in the removal of a large cerebral hydatid cyst: technical case report.

Objective: Surgery is presently the mainstay in the treatment of cerebral hydatid cysts, but removal without perforation of the cyst wall is critical. The Dowling-Orlando technique has been the main surgical choice for the intact removal of intracranial hydatid cysts. Dowling described his technique in 1929, well before the introduction of the microscope in neurosurgery.

The role of periventricular nodular heterotopia in epileptogenesis.

A temporal resection in patients with periventricular nodular heterotopia (PNH) and intractable focal seizures yields poor results. To define the role of heterotopic grey matter tissue in epileptogenesis and to improve outcome, we performed stereoencephalography (SEEG) recordings in eight patients with uni- or bilateral PNH and intractable focal epilepsy. The SEEG studies aimed to evaluate the most epileptogenic areas and included the allo- and neocortex and at least one nodule of grey matter.

Palliative temporal resection for the treatment of intractable bioccipital epilepsy.

Rationale: Temporal resection is usually ineffective in patients with occipital seizures. However, when seizures are unilateral occipital resections are now, occasionally, considered. When bilateral seizures and visual field defects exist, occipital resection can not be carried out.

[Clinical and magnetic resonance imaging findings in patients with surgically treated mesial temporal sclerosis].

Purpose: Mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) is one of the leading causes of medically intractable complex partial seizures. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical findings in seventeen patients who had surgery for medically intractable mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) are presented in this report.

Materials And Methods: 17 patients (9 females and 8 males) aged 19-35 years with clinically and electrophysiologically proven MTLE have been included in the study.