Clinical outcomes of VNS therapy with AspireSR (including cardiac-based seizure detection) at a large complex epilepsy and surgery centre.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of AspireSR to preceding VNS battery models for battery replacements, and to determine the efficacy of the AspireSR for new implants.

Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from patients with epilepsy who had VNS AspireSR implanted over a three-year period between June 2014 and June 2017 by a single surgeon. Cases were divided into two cohorts, those in whom the VNS was a new insertion, and those in whom the VNS battery was changed from a previous model to AspireSR.

Newer anti-epileptic drugs, vitamin status and neuropathy: A cross-sectional analysis.

Objective: Whether new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) may result in neuropathy is unknown but possible given their effects on vitamin metabolism. This analysis aimed to determine frequency and correlates of neuropathy in subjects treated with new AEDs in relation to drug used, length of exposure and serum vitamin B12 and folate levels.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 52 consecutive epileptic subjects.

Early haemodynamic changes observed in patients with epilepsy, in a visual experiment and in simulations.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether previously reported early blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) changes in epilepsy could occur as a result of the modelling techniques rather than physiological changes.

Methods: EEG-fMRI data were analysed from seven patients with focal epilepsy, six control subjects undergoing a visual experiment, in addition to simulations. In six separate analyses the event timing was shifted by either -9,-6,-3,+3,+6 or +9 s relative to the onset of the interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) or stimulus.

Specialist management of routine dental procedures in adults with refractory epilepsy.

Little published information exists about the management of dental treatment procedures for people with epilepsy who, despite their medication, continue to have seizures. This paper draws on relevant literature in neurology and anaesthetics to provide a multi-speciality consensus on methods of assessment and adjunctive treatment options in order to manage the risk of a clinically significant seizure occurring during a procedure. It aims to enhance current guidelines and practice in the provision of specialist care for this diverse group.

Acute, localised paroxysmal pain as the initial manifestation of focal seizures: a case report and a brief review of the literature.

Pain is a rare manifestation of epileptic seizures. Yet, despite its rarity as a clinical entity, the pain associated with such seizures can be both severe and disabling. It thus remains important to consider epilepsy in the differential diagnosis of unexplained paroxysmal pain.