Objective: To investigate whether local lesions created by stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG)-guided radiofrequency thermocoagulation (RFTC) affect distant brain connectivity and excitability in patients with focal, drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE).
Methods: Ten patients with focal DRE underwent SEEG implantation and subsequently 1 Hz bipolar repetitive electrical stimulation (RES) for 30 s before and after RFTC. Root mean square (RMS) of cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEPs) was calculated for 15 ms to 300 ms post-stimulation with baseline correction.
Research Purpose: Subjective clinical decision-making in major depressive disorder (MDD) may result in low treatment effectiveness. This study aims to identify objective predictors of MDD outcome using resting-state functional MRI scans, acquired from 25 MDD patients at baseline. Over a year, patients were assessed every 3 months, labeled as positive or negative outcome (change in depression severity).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring ongoing narratives, event boundaries trigger processes relevant for subsequent memory. Previous work has shown that novel, unrelated input presented at an event boundary can retroactively interfere with short-term retention of the preceding event. This interference was attributed to a perturbation of offset-related processes taking place within seconds after encoding and supporting the binding of elements into a coherent event memory.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Periventricular nodular heterotopias (PVNH) are developmental abnormalities with neurons abnormally clustered around the cerebral ventricles. Patients frequently present with focal drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). However, the relationship between PVNH and the seizure onset zone (SOZ) is complex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Rhythmic and periodic patterns (RPPs) on EEG in patients in a coma after cardiac arrest are associated with a poor neurologic outcome. We characterize RPPs using qEEG in relation to outcomes.
Methods: Post hoc analysis was conducted on 172 patients in a coma after cardiac arrest from the TELSTAR trial, all with RPPs.
Purpose: Electroencephalography (EEG) is commonly used in neurology, but there is variability in how neurologists interpret EEGs, potentially from variability in EEG teaching. Little is known about how EEG teaching is done to prepare neurologists for professional practice.
Methods: We interviewed a group of EEG experts to characterize their teaching practices around continuous EEG (cEEG).
Objective: Aberrant behavior in patients with epilepsy (PWE) admitted to an epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) can endanger their safety. We sought to identify predictive factors for post-ictal behavioral dysregulation and psychosis in patients with refractory epilepsy being monitored at an EMU.
Methods: Retrospective data were gathered from electronic patient files of all patients with refractory epilepsy who underwent intracranial registration at our EMU.
Objective: To clarify the significance of any form of myoclonus in comatose patients after cardiac arrest with rhythmic and periodic EEG patterns (RPPs) by analyzing associations between myoclonus and EEG pattern, response to anti-seizure medication and neurological outcome.
Design: Post hoc analysis of the prospective randomized Treatment of ELectroencephalographic STatus Epilepticus After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (TELSTAR) trial.
Setting: Eleven ICUs in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Previous research has shown an interplay between the thalamus and cerebral cortex during NREM sleep in humans, however the directionality of the thalamocortical synchronization is as yet unknown. In this study thalamocortical connectivity during different NREM sleep stages using sleep scalp electroencephalograms and local field potentials from the left and right anterior thalamus was measured in three epilepsy patients implanted with deep brain stimulation electrodes. Connectivity was assessed as debiased weighted phase lag index and granger causality between the thalamus and cortex for the NREM sleep stages N1, N2 and N3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSleep spindles (8 - 16 Hz) are transient electrophysiological events during non-rapid eye movement sleep. While sleep spindles are routinely observed in the cortex using scalp electroencephalography (EEG), recordings of their thalamic counterparts have not been widely studied in humans. Based on a few existing studies, it has been hypothesized that spindles occur as largely local phenomena.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Valproic acid (VPA) is a frequently prescribed anti-epileptic drug. Since its introduction side effects on hemostasis are reported. However, studies show conflicting results, and the clinical relevance is questioned.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Whether the treatment of rhythmic and periodic electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest improves outcomes is uncertain.
Methods: We conducted an open-label trial of suppressing rhythmic and periodic EEG patterns detected on continuous EEG monitoring in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to a stepwise strategy of antiseizure medications to suppress this activity for at least 48 consecutive hours plus standard care (antiseizure-treatment group) or to standard care alone (control group); standard care included targeted temperature management in both groups.
About one third of patients with epilepsy have seizures refractory to the medical treatment. Electrical stimulation mapping (ESM) is the gold standard for the identification of "eloquent" areas prior to resection of epileptogenic tissue. However, it is time-consuming and may cause undesired side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is often difficult to predict seizure recurrence in subjects who have suffered a first-ever epileptic seizure. In this study, the predictive value of physiological signals measured using Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional MRI (fMRI) is assessed. In particular those patients developing epilepsy (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Despite optimal improvement in motor functioning, both short- and long-term studies have reported small but consistent changes in cognitive functioning following STN-DBS in Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of the present study was to explore whether surgical characteristics were associated with cognitive decline one year following STN-DBS.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 49 PD patients who underwent bilateral STN-DBS.
Background: Microelectrode recordings (MER) are used to optimize lead placement during subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS). To obtain reliable MER, surgery is usually performed while patients are awake. Procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) is often desirable to improve patient comfort, anxiolysis and pain relief.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSomatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) are a valuable tool to assess functional integrity of the somatosensory pathways and for the prediction of sensorimotor outcome in perinatal injuries, such as perinatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI). In the present research, we studied the translational potential of SSEPs together with sensory function in the male adult rat with perinatal HI compared to the male healthy adult rat. Both somatosensory response and evoked potential were measured at 10-11 months after global perinatal HI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep brain stimulation (DBS) of the anterior nucleus of the thalamus (ANT) is a promising treatment for patients with refractory epilepsy. However, therapy response varies and precise positioning of the DBS lead is potentially essential for maximizing therapeutic efficacy. We investigate if single-cell recordings acquired by microelectrode recordings can aid targeting of the ANT during surgery and hypothesize that the neuronal firing properties of the target region relate to clinical outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSensorimotor integration, the translation between acoustic signals and motoric programs, may constitute a crucial mechanism for speech. During speech perception, the acoustic-motoric translations include the recruitment of cortical areas for the representation of speech articulatory features, such as place of articulation. Selective attention can shape the processing and performance of speech perception tasks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Currently, continuous electroencephalographic monitoring (cEEG) is the only available diagnostic tool for continuous monitoring of brain function in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Yet, the exact relevance of routinely applied ICU cEEG remains unclear, and information on the implementation of cEEG, especially in Europe, is scarce. This study explores current practices of cEEG in adult Dutch ICU departments focusing on organizational and operational factors, development over time and factors perceived relevant for abstaining its use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To present our experience with anterior transthoracic surgery for high-risk thoracic disc herniations (TDHs) using motor evoked potential monitoring (MEPm).
Methods: We estimated surgical risk based on clinical and radiologic characteristics, including anteroposterior (AP) spinal canal occupation (SCO), AP spinal cord compression (SCC), residual AP spinal cord diameter (RSCD), and intramedullary signal changes (ISC). We analyzed Anand, ASIA, and Nurick scores, anesthesiologic, neurophysiological, and surgical reports.
Background: Tourette syndrome is a hyperkinetic neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by tics.
Objective: Assess the neuronal changes in the associative/limbic GP associated with Tourette syndrome.
Methods: Neurophysiological recordings were performed from the anterior (associative/limbic) GPe and GPi of 8 awake patients during DBS electrode implantation surgeries.
Autoantibodies against ion channels are the cause of numerous neurologic autoimmune disorders. Frequently, such pathogenic autoantibodies have a restricted epitope-specificity. In such cases, competing antibody formats devoid of pathogenic effector functions (blocker antibodies) have the potential to treat disease by displacing autoantibodies from their target.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease are thought to be related to altered functional brain connectivity. To date, cognitive-related changes in Parkinson's disease have never been explored with dense-EEG with the aim of establishing a relationship between the degree of cognitive impairment, on the one hand, and alterations in the functional connectivity of brain networks, on the other hand. This study was aimed at identifying altered brain networks associated with cognitive phenotypes in Parkinson's disease using dense-EEG data recorded during rest with eyes closed.
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