Spinal cord monitoring.

Spinal cord surgery carries the risk of spinal cord or nerve root injury. Neurophysiologic monitoring decreases risk of injury by continuous assessment of spinal cord and nerve root function throughout surgery. Techniques include somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs), transcranial electrical motor evoked potentials (MEPs), and electromyography (EMG).

Trigeminal nerve stimulation in major depressive disorder: acute outcomes in an open pilot study.

Most patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) do not recover with initial pharmacotherapy, and many pursue combination treatments. Combining a medication with neuromodulation offers an alternative to purely pharmacologic strategies. In prior open and double-blind controlled trials for drug-resistant epilepsy, adjunctive external trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNS) was found to be safe and well tolerated, to significantly reduce seizures, and to be associated with an improvement in depressive symptoms.

Trigeminal nerve stimulation: seminal animal and human studies for epilepsy and depression.

The unique ability to stimulate bilaterally, extracranially, and non-invasively may represent a significant advantage to invasive neuromodulation therapies. In humans thus far the technique has been applied noninvasively, and is termed external trigeminal nerve stimulation (eTNSTM).

Trigeminal nerve stimulation in major depressive disorder: first proof of concept in an open pilot trial.

Modulation of brain activity via trigeminal nerve stimulation is an emerging therapy in drug-resistant epilepsy. This cranial nerve also projects to structures implicated in depression (such as the nucleus tractus solitarius and locus coeruleus). We examined the effects of external trigeminal nerve stimulation in major depressive disorder as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy.

Safety and tolerability of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with epilepsy: a review of the literature.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is emerging as a new therapeutic tool in epilepsy, where it can be used to suppress seizures or treat comorbid conditions such as mood disorder. However, as rTMS carries a risk of inducing seizures among other adverse events, its safety and tolerability in the population with epilepsy warrant distinct consideration, as this group is especially seizure-prone. Accordingly, we performed a review of the literature to estimate the risk of seizures and other adverse events associated with rTMS in patients with epilepsy.

Low frequency electrical stimulation through subdural electrodes in a case of refractory status epilepticus.

Objective: We delivered low frequency stimulation through subdural electrodes to suppress seizures in a case of refractory status epilepticus (RSE).

Methods: A 26-year-old female developed RSE after several days of febrile illness. Seizure control required continuous infusion of two anesthetics plus high doses of 2-4 enteral antiepileptic drugs.

A lack of effect from transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on the vagus nerve stimulator (VNS).

Objective: The effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) are unknown. Understanding these effects is important before exposing individuals with an implanted VNS to TMS, as could occur in epilepsy or depression TMS research. To explore this issue, the TMS-induced current in VNS leads and whether TMS has an effect on the VNS pulse generator was assessed.

Normative data on changes in transcranial magnetic stimulation measures over a ten hour period.

Objective: To establish normative data on the single-subject variation of resting motor thresholds and silent periods over 10 h using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Methods: Seventeen neurologically normal volunteers aged 18-36 underwent a series of seven TMS sessions conducted over the course of a single 10-h period. During each session, resting motor threshold and cortical silent period were recorded for the first dorsal interosseus muscle of each hand during focal TMS of the contralateral motor area.

Routine and quantitative EEG in mild traumatic brain injury.

This article reviews the pathophysiology of mild traumatic brain injury, and the findings from EEG and quantitative EEG (QEEG) testing after such an injury. Research on the clinical presentation and pathophysiology of mild traumatic brain injury is reviewed with an emphasis on details that may pertain to EEG or QEEG and their interpretation. Research reports on EEG and QEEG in mild traumatic brain injury are reviewed in this setting, and conclusions are drawn about general diagnostic results that can be determined using these tests.

Reduced anesthetization during the intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) test in patients taking carbonic anhydrase-inhibiting medications.

Purpose: Failure to show adequate anesthetization during the intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP or "Wada test") is a rare complication. After an unusually high rate of recent anesthetization failures, we sought to determine the frequency of reduced anesthetization and any common factors underlying these failures.

Methods: We reviewed the records of all patients who underwent IAP tests through the UCLA Seizure Disorder Center between September 1999 and May 2002.

Seizure incidence during single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in individuals with epilepsy.

Objective: We reviewed published data and our own data to determine a quantitative incidence of seizure in subjects with epilepsy undergoing single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS and ppTMS) and to explore conditions that may increase this risk.

Methods: A PubMed literature search was performed, and articles from this search were reviewed. Subjects from our institution also were included.