Publications by authors named "Juan Pociecha"

Focal atonic seizures are recognized rarely as ictal phenomena, they can correspond to both generalized epilepsy and focal epilepsy. The areas of the brain involved in the management of this type of seizure are: the negative motor area and the primary motor and primary somatosensory cortices, although the neurophysiology that generates them is still unclear. We present the case of a patient with focal atonic seizures in the left upper limb, refractory to drug treatment.

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Objectives: Although hemispheric surgeries are among the most effective procedures for drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) in the pediatric population, there is a large variability in seizure outcomes at the group level. A recently developed HOPS score provides individualized estimation of likelihood of seizure freedom to complement clinical judgement. The objective of this study was to develop a freely accessible online calculator that accurately predicts the probability of seizure freedom for any patient at 1-, 2-, and 5-years post-hemispherectomy.

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Objectives: Report a series of children with West syndrome (WS) treated with vigabatrin (VGB) who developed characteristic MRI alterations. In the majority, these adverse events were asymptomatic; however, some of the patients developed movement disorders and acute encephalopathy.

Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of our epilepsy clinical and EEG database of 288 patients with WS seen between 2014 and 2020.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to compare two surgical techniques—vertical parasagittal and lateral peri-insular/peri-Sylvian hemispherotomy—specifically to see which is better for achieving long-term seizure freedom in patients.* -
  • Data from 672 participants indicated that 62.4% achieved seizure freedom over 10 years, with the vertical approach showing higher long-term success rates: 88.8% at 1 year, diminishing to 85.5% at 5 and 10 years, while the lateral approach saw a decline from 89.2% to 57.2% over the same periods.* -
  • The analysis revealed that the vertical technique had a significant advantage in maintaining seizure freedom over
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Article Synopsis
  • A study was conducted to create and validate a model that can predict seizure freedom in children undergoing hemispheric surgery for drug-resistant epilepsy, analyzing data from 1267 surgeries across 32 centers globally.
  • The results showed that 66% of patients achieved seizure freedom 3 months post-surgery, with a predictive model developed using factors like age at seizure onset and imaging results, achieving a moderately high predictive accuracy (area under the curve = .72).
  • The study introduced the Hemispheric Surgery Outcome Prediction Scale (HOPS), which helps identify children who will benefit from surgery and informs medical decisions, potentially avoiding unnecessary surgeries for those unlikely to gain seizure control.
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Objective: Here, we present a multicenter series of patients with developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) and related electroclinical patterns (REP) other than Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) who were treated with rufinamide as add-on therapy.

Methods: Medical records of 34 patients with DEE and REP other than LGS treated with add-on rufinamide seen at four pediatric neurology centers in Argentina between May 2014 and March 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: We evaluated 34 patients (18 males, 16 females), aged between 2 and 15 years with a mean and median age of 6 and 8 years, respectively.

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The aim of this study was to analyse the electroclinical and imaging findings and outcome of patients with Rasmussen syndrome (RS) with atypical manifestations. We conducted a retrospective, descriptive study of 10 of 44 consecutive patients with RS with atypical features, followed between 1999 and 2017. Six patients were boys and four were girls.

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Rationale: Epilepsy surgery procedures started in Argentina more than 50 years ago. This is the first comprehensive and systematic survey of epilepsy surgery long-term outcome from our country.

Methods: A descriptive cohort study was conducted between 1998 and 2008 for drug-resistant epilepsy surgery with a minimum of 12 months follow-up (n=110).

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Spasms are defined as epileptic seizures characterized by brief axial contraction, in flexion, extension or mixed, symmetric or asymmetric, lasting from a fraction of a second to 1-2s, and are associated with a slow-wave transient or sharp and slow-wave complex, followed or not by voltage attenuation. Epileptic spasms usually appear in clusters and are age-dependent. This type of epileptic spasms associated with the particular EEG pattern, hypsar rhythmia, constitutes the basis for the diagnosis of West syndrome.

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