Perceptions in the experience of transition from pediatric to adult care of patients with childhood-onset epilepsy in Japan.

Objective: This study aimed to clarify perceptions of the transition from pediatric to adult care for patients with childhood-onset epilepsy in Japan.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive study design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients with childhood-onset epilepsy who had transitioned to adult care attending a tertiary hospital's adult outpatient care unit specializing in treating epilepsy.

Complete Corpus Callosotomy Brings Worthwhile Seizure Reduction in Both Pediatric and Adult Patients.

Background And Objectives: The influence of the age at which complete corpus callosotomy (CC) surgery is performed on seizure outcomes remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the age-dependent aspects of long-term seizure outcomes after complete CC.

Methods: We reviewed 41 patients who underwent one-stage complete CC.

Somatosensory evoked spikes in normal adults detected by magnetoencephalography.

Objective: Somatosensory evoked spikes (SESs) have been reported only in children aged under 14 years and are considered as an age-dependent phenomenon. However, we detected SESs in adult patients with epilepsy using magnetoencephalography (MEG). The present study investigated whether MEG can detect SESs in normal adults.

Remission of startle epilepsy provoked by acoustic stimuli following complete callosotomy: A case study.

Herein, we present the case of a 21-year-old man with a history of generalized tonic seizures since the age of 4 years. These seizures occurred either spontaneously or could be provoked by auditory stimuli such as the sounds of a vacuum cleaner or an electric shaver. Despite trials with 10 different anti-seizure medications, his seizures remained refractory.

"Caterpillar sign" in corpus callosum associated with curvilinear pericallosal lipoma in MRI: A case report.

Lipoma of the corpus callosum, also known as pericallosal lipoma, is a rare congenital brain abnormality associated with corpus callosum dysgenesis or agenesis. Two morphological types are described: tubulonodular and curvilinear, with the latter being mostly asymptomatic. We present the case of a 30-year-old woman with epilepsy, whose magnetic resonance imaging revealed a "caterpillar sign" in the corpus callosum associated with a curvilinear pericallosal lipoma.

Ongoing EEG artifact correction using blind source separation.

Objective: Analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG) for epileptic spike and seizure detection or brain-computer interfaces can be severely hampered by the presence of artifacts. The aim of this study is to describe and evaluate a fast automatic algorithm for ongoing correction of artifacts in continuous EEG recordings, which can be applied offline and online.

Methods: The automatic algorithm for ongoing correction of artifacts is based on fast blind source separation.

Interhemispheric asymmetrical change in gray matter volume in patients with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis.

Objectives: To clarify the interhemispheric asymmetrical change in gray matter volume (GMV) in unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (HS), we compared changes in GMV relative to normal subjects between the HS and contralateral or non-HS sides.

Material And Methods: Forty-five patients with unilateral HS and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled. We quantified changes in GMV in the patients with HS as compared to GMV in the normal subjects by introducing the Z-score (Z-GMV) in each region or region of interest in unilateral HS.

Language MEG predicts postoperative verbal memory change in left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Objective: To clarify whether preoperative language magnetoencephalography (MEG) predicts postoperative verbal memory (VM) changes in left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (LMTLE).

Methods: We reviewed 18 right-handed patients with LMTLE who underwent anterior temporal lobectomy or selective amygdala hippocampectomy, 12 with (HS+) and 6 without hippocampal sclerosis (HS-). Patients underwent neuropsychological assessment before and after surgery.

Referral odyssey plot to visualize causes of surgical delay in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

The "odyssey plot" was used to visualize referral delays in epilepsy surgery. Participants were 36 patients (19 males; 13-67 years, median 27 years) with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) who underwent resection surgery. The "referral odyssey plot" included five clinical episodes: seizure onset (T1), first visits to a non-epileptologist (T2) and to an epileptologist (T3), first admission to our epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) (T4), and resection surgery (T5).

Causal involvement of medial inferior frontal gyrus of non-dominant hemisphere in higher order auditory perception: A single case study.

The medial side of the operculum is invisible from the lateral surface of cerebral cortex, and its functions remain largely unexplored using direct evidence. Non-invasive and invasive studies have proved functions on peri-sylvian area including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus within the language-dominant hemisphere for semantic processing during verbal communication. However, within the non-dominant hemisphere, there was less evidence of its functions except for pitch or prosody processing.

[Medical Treatment of Epilepsy].

Medical treatment is the primary therapy option for patients with epilepsy. Recently, the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) proposed that the current medications used to treat epilepsy should be referred to as 'antiseizure medications' (ASMs) due to the symptomatic effect exerted against seizures. The present article reviews the recent clinical practice guidelines (Clinical Practice Guidelines for Epilepsy 2018, in Japan, and the NICE guideline, published in April 2022) and expert opinions (USA, South Korea, and Spain) based on which the selection of ASMs has been discussed.

Ictal chest discomfort in a patient with temporal lobe seizures and amygdala enlargement.

Chest discomfort is the representative symptom of dangerous coronary artery disease (CAD), but rarely occurs in patients with seizures. We treated a 74-year-old man with right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and amygdala enlargement, who was initially suspected of CAD and underwent repeated cardiac angiography because of recurrent episodes of paroxysmal chest discomfort starting from 68 years old. He visited an epileptologist and underwent long-term video electroencephalography monitoring (LTVEM), which confirmed right temporal seizure onset during a habitual episodes of "chest discomfort," stereotyped movement of chest rubbing with the right hand, followed by impaired conscousness.

Distribution of postictal slowing has an additional yield to interictal epileptiform discharge in predicting surgical outcomes in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Objective: To investigate whether the slowing of bilateral postictal scalp electroencephalography (EEG) after focal impaired awareness seizures is associated with poor seizure outcomes after temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) surgery.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in the Department of Epileptology, Tohoku University Hospital from 2010 to 2020. The study included 42 patients with TLE who underwent a detailed presurgical evaluation and sequential resective surgery for the unilateral probable epileptogenic temporal lobe with 1 year or more of follow-up.

Determination of language areas in patients with epilepsy using the super-selective Wada test.

The Wada test is the gold standard for determining language-dominant hemisphere. However, the precise determination of language areas in each patient requires more invasive methods, such as electrocortical stimulation. Some studies have reported the use of anesthetic injection into selective cerebral arteries to predict postoperative function.

Prescription trends in anti-seizure medications for adult patients with epilepsy in Japan: A retrospective cohort study using the database of health insurance claims between 2015 and 2019.

Objective: To investigate whether newer anti-seizure medications (ASMs) are widely prescribed for a range of adult patients in Japan, including patients with previously and newly diagnosed epilepsy, or with focal and generalized epilepsies.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Japanese insurance claims database including 8.4 million people to identify adults (≥16 years of age) with epilepsy diagnosis code identified between January 2015 and December 2018.

Development and validation of the Japanese version of the Epilepsy Stigma Scale in adults with epilepsy.

Background: Self-stigma is considered to have immensely negative influences on the living and psychological states in patients with epilepsy. Understanding the stigma experienced by patients with epilepsy is essential considering its negative impact on their treatment and quality of life (QOL). However, few sufficiently validated self-report instruments are available to evaluate self-stigma in patients with epilepsy.

Abnormal heart rate variability during non-REM sleep and postictal generalized EEG suppression in focal epilepsy.

Objective: To identify any relationship between abnormal interictal heart rate variability (HRV) during sleep and the occurrence of postictal generalized EEG suppression (PGES), a potential biomarker of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), in patients with focal epilepsy.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 34 consecutive patients with focal epilepsy, who presented with focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures (FBTCSs), 19 with PGES (PGES+) and 15 without PGES (PGES-), and 14 patients without epilepsy as controls. HRV spectrum analysis was performed for periods of 10 minutes during wakefulness, non-REM sleep, and REM sleep.

Age-Related Recovery of Daily Living Activity After 1-Stage Complete Corpus Callosotomy: A Retrospective Analysis of 41 Cases.

Background: Recovery time after corpus callosotomy (CC) is known to be longer in elderly than in younger patients.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between patient age and recovery time of activities of daily living (ADL) after 1-stage complete CC.

Methods: This study included 41 patients (22 women; aged 13 months-34 years, median 7 years) who underwent 1-stage complete CC for medically intractable seizures with drop attacks, infantile spasms, and/or bilaterally synchronized electroencephalographic discharges between August 2009 and April 2019.