Introduction: Post-stroke epilepsy (PSE) is one of the most common causes of acquired epilepsy. Nevertheless, there is limited evidence regarding the clinical profile of antiseizure medications (ASMs) in PSE. This study aims to evaluate the 12-month effectiveness and tolerability of perampanel (PER) used as only add-on treatment in patients with PSE in a real-world setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Drug management of epilepsy in the elderly presents unique but data on this population are scarce. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of perampanel (PER) used as only add-on to a background anti-seizure medication (ASM) in the elderly in a real-world setting.
Methods: We performed a subgroup analysis of patients aged ≥65 years included in a previous 12-month multicenter study on adults.
Objective: Perampanel (PER) is indicated as adjunctive antiseizure medication (ASM) in adolescents and adults with epilepsy. Data from clinical trials show good efficacy and tolerability, while limited information is available on the routine clinical use of PER, especially when used as only add-on treatment.
Methods: We performed an observational, retrospective, multicenter study on people with focal or generalized epilepsy aged >12 years, consecutively recruited from 52 Italian epilepsy centers.
Introduction: The main of the present study was to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of perampanel (PER) in association with 1 or 2 concomitant antiseizure medications (ASMs) in patients with epilepsy throughout a follow-up period of 24 months or longer in a real-world setting.
Methods: This retrospective, observational, multi-center study collected data from both underage (<18 years old) and adult patients who had started PER in association with 1 or 2 ASMs. Only patients who had started PER and were followed up for at least 24 months were included.
Background: Clinical data regarding use of newer antiseizure medications (ASMs) in an older population are limited. In randomized-controlled, placebo-controlled trials, older patients are under-represented, and protocols deviate markedly from routine clinical practice, limiting the external validity of results. Studies performed in a naturalistic setting are a useful complement to characterize the drug profile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Efficiency of care chain response and hospital reactivity were and are challenged for stroke acute care management during the pandemic period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in North-Eastern Italy (Veneto, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Trentino-Alto-Adige), counting 7,193,880 inhabitants (ISTAT), with consequences in acute treatment for patients with ischemic stroke.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective data collection of patients admitted to stroke units eventually treated with thrombolysis and thrombectomy, ranging from January to May 2020 from the beginning to the end of the main first pandemic period of COVID-19 in Italy. The primary endpoint was the number of patients arriving to these stroke units, and secondary endpoints were the number of thrombolysis and/or thrombectomy.
Epilepsy in brain tumors (BTE) may require medical attention for a variety of unique concerns: epileptic seizures, possible serious adverse effects of antineoplastic and antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), physical disability, and/or neurocognitive disturbances correlated to tumor site. Guidelines for the management of tumor-related epilepsies are lacking. Treatment is not standardized, and overall management might differ according to different specialists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntravenous thrombolysis (IVT) is the treatment of choice for most patients with acute ischemic stroke. According to the recently updated guidelines, IVT should be administered in absence of absolute exclusion criteria. We aimed to assess the proportion of ischemic strokes potentially eligible and actually treated with IVT, and to explore the reasons for not administering IVT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMaria Malibran (1808-1836) is one of the most famous sopranos of the nineteenth century. In 1825, along with her father, the renowned tenor Manuel Garcia, she introduced the Italian opera in America for the first time. The European debut in Paris (1828) definitively crowned her as a star.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Epilepsy is the most common comorbidity in patients with brain tumors.
Study Aims: To define characteristics of brain tumor-related epilepsy (BTRE) patients and identify patterns of care. Nationwide, multicenter retrospective cohort study.
Unlabelled: To date, no data have been published in literature regarding either a "model" or systematic approach to caring for patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy (BTRE). In Italy, there are numerous dedicated centers for epilepsy.
Study Aims: to investigate how many BTRE patients were followed by these specialized centers, independent of histological grade; to have a national snapshot of the range of care issues concerning these patients, with surveys completed by Italian centers adhering to the Italian League Against Epilepsy (LICE) study group for BTRE.
A 67-year-old man complained of a transient blurring of vision in his right visual field lasting 30 min followed by headache. Two weeks later, the visual disturbance changed its pattern; it was described as the occurrence of brown round-shaped images in the right visual field spinning and turning for few seconds. This evolution from visual aura to visual seizures, with video-EEG correlation, supports the hypothesis of modification in threshold of cortical hyperexcitability from migraine to epilepsy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeadache may be associated with seizures as a preictal, ictal, or postictal phenomenon, but it is often neglected because of the dramatic neurological manifestations of the seizure. Headache can also be the sole or predominant clinical manifestation of epileptic seizures, although this is a relatively rare condition. We describe two cases of focal symptomatic drug-resistant epilepsy with headache as the first ictal symptom.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrinciples: The risk of seizures increases in patients with brain tumours (BT) and brain vascular malformations (BVM), but not all risk factors are known. We aimed to identify factors that increase the risk of a first seizure in patients with BT or BVM.
Methods: Multicentre case-control study; 102 cases with a first seizure as a presenting symptom of BT or BVM; 121 hospital controls with BT or BVM, but without seizures, matched by centre, gender and age.
Purpose: Photosensitivity can represent a serious problem in epilepsy patients, also because pharmacologic treatment is often ineffective. Nonpharmacologic treatment using blue sunglasses is effective and safe in controlling photosensitivity, but large series of patients have never been studied.
Methods: This multicenter study was conducted in 12 epilepsy centers in northern, central, southern, and insular Italy.