Prospective study of cenobamate on cognition, affectivity, and quality of life in focal epilepsy.

Objective: Cenobamate is a recently approved antiseizure medication that proved to be safe and effective in randomized controlled trials. However, little is known about its impact on some areas frequently affected by epilepsy. For this reason, we explored the effects of cenobamate on cognitive performance, as well as on negative affectivity and quality of life in a sample of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Real-life evidence about the use of intravenous brivaracetam in urgent seizures: The BRIV-IV study.

Purpose: Urgent seizures are a medical emergency for which new therapies are still needed. This study evaluated the use of intravenous brivaracetam (IV-BRV) in an emergency setting in clinical practice.

Methods: BRIV-IV was a retrospective, multicenter, observational study.

Real-world safety and effectiveness of cenobamate in patients with focal onset seizures: Outcomes from an Expanded Access Program.

Objective: This study investigated early, real-world outcomes with cenobamate (CNB) in a large series of patients with highly drug-resistant epilepsy within a Spanish Expanded Access Program (EAP).

Method: This was a multicenter, retrospective, observational study in 14 hospitals. Inclusion criteria were age ≥18 years, focal seizures, and EAP authorization.

Outcomes from a Spanish Expanded Access Program on cannabidiol treatment in pediatric and adult patients with epilepsy.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of cannabidiol (CBD) in patients with developmental and epileptic encephalopathies, including Dravet syndrome (DS), and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), in a Spanish Expanded Access Program (EAP).

Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective, observational study of patients treated with purified CBD in 14 hospitals across Spain. Patients with (1) written informed consent and (2) at least 6 months follow-up before the closure of the database were included.

A brain atlas of axonal and synaptic delays based on modelling of cortico-cortical evoked potentials.

Epilepsy presurgical investigation may include focal intracortical single-pulse electrical stimulations with depth electrodes, which induce cortico-cortical evoked potentials at distant sites because of white matter connectivity. Cortico-cortical evoked potentials provide a unique window on functional brain networks because they contain sufficient information to infer dynamical properties of large-scale brain connectivity, such as preferred directionality and propagation latencies.  Here, we developed a biologically informed modelling approach to estimate the neural physiological parameters of brain functional networks from the cortico-cortical evoked potentials recorded in a large multicentric database.

MONOZEB: Long-term observational study of eslicarbazepine acetate monotherapy.

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) when used as monotherapy for 1 year or more in routine clinical use in patients with focal seizures in epilepsy clinics in Spain.

Methods: This is a retrospective, observational, noninterventional study. Eligible patients were aged ≥18 years, had focal seizures, and started on ESL ≥1 year before database closure.

Cortisol and trait anxiety as relevant factors involved in memory performance in people with drug-resistant epilepsy.

People with drug-resistant epilepsy are exposed to unpredictable and uncontrollable seizures, which can be considered as a chronic stress condition. Additionally, these patients present memory deficits and a high prevalence of depression and anxiety. Cortisol, the main stress hormone, has a modulatory role on memory in healthy individuals and patients with emotional disorders, but its role in memory and emotional processes remains unclear in people with epilepsy.

Quality of life in drug-resistant epilepsy: relationships with negative affectivity, memory, somatic symptoms and social support.

Objective: To investigate the relative contribution of factors non-directly related to seizures such as negative affectivity, social support, somatic symptoms and memory performance on quality of life (QOL) in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Seventy patients with drug-resistant epilepsy were consecutively recruited from the inpatient Epilepsy Unit, Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, between April 2015 and October 2017.

Perampanel in routine clinical use in idiopathic generalized epilepsy: The 12-month GENERAL study.

Objective: To analyze the effectiveness and tolerability of perampanel across different seizure types in routine clinical care of patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE).

Methods: This multicenter, retrospective, 1-year observational study collected data from patient records at 21 specialist epilepsy units in Spain. All patients who were aged ≥12 years, prescribed perampanel before December 2016, and had a confirmed diagnosis of IGE were included.

Probabilistic functional tractography of the human cortex revisited.

In patients with pharmaco-resistant focal epilepsies investigated with intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG), direct electrical stimulations of a cortical region induce cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEP) in distant cerebral cortex, which properties can be used to infer large scale brain connectivity. In 2013, we proposed a new probabilistic functional tractography methodology to study human brain connectivity. We have now been revisiting this method in the F-TRACT project (f-tract.

Psychiatric symptoms after temporal epilepsy surgery. A one-year follow-up study.

Psychiatric symptoms must be considered in patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy after epilepsy surgery. The main objectives of our study were to describe clinical and socio-demographical characteristics of a cohort of patients with pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy who underwent temporal lobe epilepsy surgery, and moreover, to evaluate possible risk factors for developing psychiatric symptoms. In order to achieve those goals, we conducted a prospective evaluation of psychopathology throughout the first year after surgery in a clinical sample of 72 patients, by means of three clinical rated measures; the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS).

Age at surgery as a predictor of cognitive improvements in patients with drug-resistant temporal epilepsy.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) surgery is an effective procedure that can produce cognitive changes. However, the prognostic factors related with cognitive outcomes need to be better understood. The aim of the present study is to know if age at surgery is a reliable predictor of verbal memory competence and considering factors such as: hemisphere; type of surgery; pre-surgical seizure frequency; and epilepsy duration.

NEOPLASM study: Real-life use of lacosamide in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy.

Background: The choice of antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy (BTRE) is complicated, and there are a lack of robust clinical trial data to date.

Methods: The NEOPLASM (Neuroncologic Patients treated with LAcoSaMide) study was a 6-month, multicenter, retrospective, observational study in patients with BTRE treated with lacosamide. Patients were started on lacosamide because of a lack of efficacy or adverse events (AEs) with prior AEDs or suitability versus other AEDs, according to clinical practice.

Early add-on lacosamide in a real-life setting: results of the REALLY study.

Background And Objectives: Many patients with epilepsy are treated with antiepileptic drug (AED) polytherapy. Several factors influence the choice of early add-on therapy, and deciding on the most appropriate drug can be difficult. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and tolerability of lacosamide as early add-on therapy in patients with partial-onset seizures.

Factors influencing response to intravenous lacosamide in emergency situations: LACO-IV study.

Status epilepticus (SE) and acute repetitive seizures (ARSs) frequently result in emergency visits. Wide variations in response are seen with standard antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Oral and intravenous (IV) formulations of lacosamide are approved as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial-onset seizures in adults and adolescents.

Clinical and serological features of acute sensory ataxic neuropathy with antiganglioside antibodies.

There is as yet no consensus for considering pure acute sensory ataxic neuropathy (ASAN) as a variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Reactivity against gangliosides sharing disialosyl epitopes has been reported in these patients. The aim of this study was to determine the spectrum of reactivity against gangliosides in ASAN and to define the clinical pattern.