Publications by authors named "P Smeyers"

Background/objectives: Developmental and epileptic encephalopathy 9 (DEE9) (MIM #300088) affects heterozygous females and males with somatic pathogenic variants, while male carriers with hemizygous pathogenic variants are clinically unaffected. There are hundreds of pathogenic single nucleotide variants in the gene reported in the literature, which lead to the loss of function of the PCDH19 protein. To date, no phenotypes associated with overexpression or copy number gains have been described in this gene.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Dravet syndrome (DS) is a severe form of epilepsy that causes high seizure rates and communication difficulties in children, which are major concerns for families.
  • A study named ENVISION monitored children with DS, focusing on their seizure frequency and language development over the first year, stratifying results by age groups.
  • Results showed that while seizure frequency increased with age, babies as young as 2 years exhibited significant language delays and developmental stagnation, indicating that age is a strong factor influencing seizure frequency, but did not predict language outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Febrile seizures (FS) are usually self-limiting and cause no morbidity. Nevertheless they represent very traumatic events for families. There is a need to identify key messages that reassure carers and help to prevent inappropriate, anxiety-driven behaviors associated with "fever phobia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Clinical care of rare and complex epilepsies is challenging, because evidence-based treatment guidelines are scarce, the experience of many physicians is limited, and interdisciplinary treatment of comorbidities is required. The pathomechanisms of rare epilepsies are, however, increasingly understood, which potentially fosters novel targeted therapies. The objectives of our survey were to obtain an overview of the clinical practice in European tertiary epilepsy centers treating patients with 5 arbitrarily selected rare epilepsies and to get an estimate of potentially available patients for future studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF