Elevated basal glutamate and unchanged glutamine and GABA in refractory epilepsy: Microdialysis study of 79 patients at the yale epilepsy surgery program.

Objective: Aberrant glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmission contribute to seizure generation and the epileptic state. However, whether levels of these neurochemicals are abnormal in epileptic patients is unknown. Here, we report on interictal levels of glutamate, glutamine, and GABA in epilepsy patients at seizure onset and nonepileptic sites, cortical lesions, and from patients with poorly localized neocortical epilepsies.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in oropharyngeal cancer patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy.

Background: The clinical benefit of routine placement of prophylactic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (pPEG) tubes was assessed in patients with oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) who are undergoing intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with concurrent chemotherapy.

Methods: From 1998 through 2009, 400 consecutive patients with OPC who underwent chemoradiation were included. Of these, 325 had a pPEG and 75 did not (nPEG).