Serum Neurosteroid Levels Are Associated With Cortical Thickness in Individuals Diagnosed With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and History of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) co-occurring with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is common in veterans. Worse clinical outcome in those with PTSD has been associated with decreased serum neurosteroid levels. Furthermore, decreased cortical thickness has been associated with both PTSD and mTBI.

Mild traumatic brain injury impacts associations between limbic system microstructure and post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology.

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that afflicts many individuals, yet the neuropathological mechanisms that contribute to this disorder remain to be fully determined. Moreover, it is unclear how exposure to mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), a condition that is often comorbid with PTSD, particularly among military personnel, affects the clinical and neurological presentation of PTSD. To address these issues, the present study explores relationships between PTSD symptom severity and the microstructure of limbic and paralimbic gray matter brain regions, as well as the impact of mTBI comorbidity on these relationships.

Self-stimulation in an adult misdiagnosed with focal epilepsy.

Self-stimulation is a normal part of development and a common behaviour in children before puberty, but very rare in adults. The stereotyped semiology can sometimes raise the suspicion of epilepsy. We present a 30-year-old patient who came to our epilepsy monitoring unit for differential diagnosis of nocturnal episodes, interpreted elsewhere as hypermotor status epilepticus associated with a known diagnosis of focal epilepsy and septo-optic dysplasia.

Impact of withdrawal of antiepileptic medication on the duration of focal onset seizures.

Purpose: To systematically evaluate the duration of focal onset seizures under medication withdrawal as a function of drug half-life.

Methods: Adults with drug resistant focal epilepsy and invasive electroencephalographic (iEEG) recording between 01/2006 and 06/2016 (n = 128) were identified. Patients with multifocal or unknown epileptic foci were excluded, as well as subclinical seizures, isolated auras, or status epileptic.

Stimulation-induced ictal vocalisation of left frontal lobe origin.

Pure ictal non-speech vocalisation occurs in frontal and temporal lobe epilepsies. Electrical stimulation of supplementary motor areas is reported to evoke vocalisation in selected patients. Here, we report a patient with focal epilepsy of the left anterior insula who had isolated monotonous vocalisation elicited by electrical stimulation of the left superior frontal gyrus.