Publications by authors named "Laura Rodriguez Bel"

Objective: Eating-induced seizures (EIS) are a rare form of reflex seizures. The objective of this study was to report a series of cases of EIS involving patients admitted to our epilepsy unit, and to analyze the clinical characteristics, etiology, and treatment response of this type of infrequent seizure.

Methods: We performed a single-center retrospective analysis of all consecutive patients diagnosed with epilepsy with eating-induced seizures between 2008 and 2020.

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Background: Niemann-Pick disease Type C (NPC) is a genetic, incurable, neurodegenerative disorder. This orphan disease is most frequently caused by mutations in the NPC1 protein, resulting in intralysossomal cholesterol accumulation. NPC1 is found in neuronal cell bodies, axon terminals and synaptosomes, suggesting it plays a role in lysosomal degradation pathway and in synaptic transmission.

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Objectives: De novo aphasic status epilepticus (ASE) in patients without a previous history of epilepsy and without cerebral lesions (aphasic NOSE) is rare. The aim of the study is to describe its clinical characteristics, etiologies, and outcome.

Materials & Methods: Single-center study including consecutive patients presenting to the emergency department between 2011 and 2019 with acute aphasia, which was finally diagnosed as aphasic NOSE.

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Background And Purpose: Glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD-Ab) are sometimes associated with chronic drug-resistant focal epilepsy. Clinically, it may manifest as mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE), with GAD-Ab patients difficult to distinguish. Therefore, the aim of this study is to compare brain metabolism of patients with mTLE and high serum titers of GAD-Ab (>2000 UI/ml) to those with mTLE and hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and confirmed GAD-ab negativity.

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Drug resistant epilepsy (DRE) has been associated with a high incidence of psychotic disorders. Patients can develop psychosis after starting a new antiseizure medication, after undergoing resective surgery, or after implantation of a vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) system. The aim of this study was to investigate the modulation effect of VNS on psychotic episodes in DRE patients with a pre-existing history of periictal psychotic episodes (PPE).

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Objective: To follow prospectively a group of patients with seizures or epilepsy and suggestive clinical features of autoimmune aetiology and find out how many are finally diagnosed with acute symptomatic seizures (ASS) secondary to autoimmune encephalitis or autoimmune-related epilepsy, and how many develop epilepsy.

Methods: Consecutive patients meeting the inclusion criteria from 2010 to 2018 were identified. Patients were classified as confirmed, probable autoimmune, non-autoimmune, or unknown.

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Antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD ab) have been found in patients with limbic encephalitis (LE) and chronic pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy (FE). The objectives of the study were to: (1) analyze the clinical and neuroimaging course of patients with FE+GAD ab, (2) compare these characteristics with a control group, and (3) describe the most affected cerebral areas with structural and functional imaging. Patients with FE + high titers of GAD ab and a follow-up of at least 5 years were selected.

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Objective: Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare malignancy. Location of residual, recurrent, or metastatic disease is crucial to treatment management and outcome. We aimed to evaluate the use of F-FDG PET/CT in localizing MTC foci in patients with biochemical relapse.

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The aim of this study was to assess the physical performance of a new PET/CT system, the Discovery IQ with 5-ring detector blocks. Performance was measured using the National Electrical Manufacturers Association NU2-2012 methodology. Image quality was extended by accounting for different acquisition parameters (lesion-to-background ratios [8:1, 4:1, and 2:1] and acquisition times) and reconstruction algorithms (VUE-point HD [VPHD], VPHD with point-spread-function modeling [VPHD-S], and Q.

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Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the evolution of patients with internal mammary chain (IMC) drainage whether the IMC-sentinel lymph node (IMC-SLN) was biopsied or not, as well as to determine the clinical implications of the biopsy of the IMC-SLN (IMC-SLNB) in patients with breast cancer and IMC drainage in the lymphoscintigraphy.

Methods: Eighty-two out of 914 patients included in a prospective database of sentinel node (9%) showed IMC drainage and were included in the study. Two groups were established depending on the IMC-SLN removal: group A (IMC-SLN were removed): 44 patients, mean age 48.

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