Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus With Generalized Spike-and-Wave Discharges: Pathophysiological and Nosological Considerations.

Absence status epilepticus (ASE) is the most common type of status epilepticus in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). Like absence seizure, ASE is characterized by generalized spike-and-wave discharges (GSWDs) on the electroencephalogram (EEG). Once considered specific for IGE, GSWDs have increasingly been observed in other forms of epilepsy, as well as in patients with no prior epilepsy.

Minimum Technical Requirements for Performing Ambulatory EEG.

Ambulatory EEG (AEEG) devices offer portable, multichannel, digital EEG recording with or without video in the patient's natural environment. The technology applied for AEEG recording is like the technology for routine EEG and inpatient long-term video-EEG monitoring but designed to be compact and wearable. Computer-based AEEG technology is well-suited to digital recording, signal processing, and visual display.

Electroclinical Mismatch During EEG Acquisition: What It Might Mean, What We Might Need to Do.

An electroclinical mismatch is present if the electroencephalogram (EEG) shows evidence of moderate to severe diffuse encephalopathy but the patient's mental status is only mildly altered. We describe five cases in which seizure or status epilepticus was suspected due to electroclinical mismatch. In all five cases, EEG was ordered to rule out nonconvulsive status epilepticus as the cause of the altered mental status.

Regulation of microRNA Expression in Sleep Disorders in Patients with Epilepsy.

The effects of epilepsy on sleep and the activating effects of sleep on seizures are well documented in the literature. To date, many sleep-related and awake-associated epilepsy syndromes have been described. The relationship between sleep and epilepsy has led to the recognition of polysomnographic testing as an important diagnostic tool in the diagnosis of epilepsy.

Ictal Hypersalivation and Salivary Gland Enlargement in a Patient With Acquired Frontal Lobe Epilepsy.

Hypersalivation is a well-known ictal semiology of benign Rolandic epilepsy and other childhood epilepsy syndromes. There are also occasional reports of adults with temporal, parietal, or frontal lobe epilepsy in which hypersalivation is a prominent seizure manifestation. Notably lacking are reports linking salivary gland enlargement to ictal hypersalivation.

Nine-year prospective efficacy and safety of brain-responsive neurostimulation for focal epilepsy.

Objective: To prospectively evaluate safety and efficacy of brain-responsive neurostimulation in adults with medically intractable focal onset seizures (FOS) over 9 years.

Methods: Adults treated with brain-responsive neurostimulation in 2-year feasibility or randomized controlled trials were enrolled in a long-term prospective open label trial (LTT) to assess safety, efficacy, and quality of life (QOL) over an additional 7 years. Safety was assessed as adverse events (AEs), efficacy as median percent change in seizure frequency and responder rate, and QOL with the Quality of Life in Epilepsy (QOLIE-89) inventory.

Dexamethasone as Abortive Treatment for Refractory Seizures or Status Epilepticus in the Inpatient Setting.

Refractory seizures or status epilepticus (RS/SE) continues to be a challenge in the inpatient setting. Failure to abort a seizure with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) may lead to intubation and treatment with general anesthesia exposing patients to complications, extending hospitalization, and increasing the cost of care. Studies have shown a key role of inflammatory mediators in seizure generation and termination.

Focal Epileptiform Discharges Can Mimic Electrode Artifacts When Recorded on the Scalp Near a Skull Defect.

Breach rhythm, the hallmark of skull defect, is a familiar finding in the electroencephalogram (EEG). A hole in the skull can also give rise to unfamiliar EEG findings. We present 3 patients with a skull defect whose scalp EEG showed focal epileptiform discharges that resembled F4 electrode artifacts-a 23-year-old man with a right-sided craniectomy for traumatic brain injury, a 63-year-old woman with a history of bifrontal craniectomy and meningioma resection, and a 77-year-old woman who had a right hemicraniectomy for a life-threatening subdural hematoma.

Brain-responsive neurostimulation in patients with medically intractable seizures arising from eloquent and other neocortical areas.

Objective: Evaluate the seizure-reduction response and safety of brain-responsive stimulation in adults with medically intractable partial-onset seizures of neocortical origin.

Methods: Patients with partial seizures of neocortical origin were identified from prospective clinical trials of a brain-responsive neurostimulator (RNS System, NeuroPace). The seizure reduction over years 2-6 postimplantation was calculated by assessing the seizure frequency compared to a preimplantation baseline.

Periodic Lateralized Epileptiform Discharges can Survive Anesthesia and Result in Asymmetric Drug-induced Burst Suppression.

Drug-induced burst suppression (DIBS) is bihemispheric and bisymmetric in adults and older children. However, asymmetric DIBS may occur if a pathological process is affecting one hemisphere only or both hemispheres disproportionately. The usual suspect is a destructive lesion; an irritative or epileptogenic lesion is usually not invoked to explain DIBS asymmetry.

Long-term treatment with responsive brain stimulation in adults with refractory partial seizures.

Objective: The long-term efficacy and safety of responsive direct neurostimulation was assessed in adults with medically refractory partial onset seizures.

Methods: All participants were treated with a cranially implanted responsive neurostimulator that delivers stimulation to 1 or 2 seizure foci via chronically implanted electrodes when specific electrocorticographic patterns are detected (RNS System). Participants had completed a 2-year primarily open-label safety study (n = 65) or a 2-year randomized blinded controlled safety and efficacy study (n = 191); 230 participants transitioned into an ongoing 7-year study to assess safety and efficacy.

Unihemispheric burst suppression.

Burst suppression (BS) consists of bursts of high-voltage slow and sharp wave activity alternating with periods of background suppression in the electroencephalogram (EEG). When induced by deep anesthesia or encephalopathy, BS is bihemispheric and is often viewed as a non-epileptic phenomenon. In contrast, unihemispheric BS is rare and its clinical significance is poorly understood.

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with focal findings: caveats to current diagnostic criteria.

The clinical diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is largely based on the 1998 World Health Organization diagnostic criteria. Unfortunately, rigid compliance with these criteria may result in failure to recognize sporadic CJD (sCJD), especially early in its course when focal findings predominate and traditional red flags are not yet present. A 61-year-old man presented with a 3-week history of epilepsia partialis continua (jerking of the left upper extremity) and a 2-week history of forgetfulness and left hemiparesis; left hemisensory neglect was also detected on admission.

Typical Spike-and-Wave Activity in Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury and its Implications for Classifying Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus.

Introduction: Typical spike-and-wave activity (TSWA) in the electroencephalogram (EEG) indicates idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). IGE-related nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is typically an absence status epilepticus (ASE). ASE and TSWA respond dramatically to benzodiazepines.

Botulinum toxin injections for simple partial motor seizures associated with pain.

Intractable epilepsy with painful partial motor seizures is a relatively rare and difficult disorder to treat. We evaluated the usefulness of botulinum toxin to reduce ictal pain. Two patients received two or four botulinum toxin (BTX) injections at one-to-two-month intervals.

Cardiac metastasis due to pulmonary metastasis from a transitional cell carcinoma.

We report a rare case of symptomatic cardiac metastasis from a transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis diagnosed by echocardiography. A 75-year-old patient with a long history of neoplasm since 1999 and coronary artery disease with CABG in 2003, was admitted to our department. He underwent cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass with tumor excision.

Neurophysiologic basis of EEG.

This review article introduces the reader to the very basics of electroencephalography (EEG). It tries to explain in simple terms the physiologic principles of EEG generation and organization at the cellular, cortical and subcortical levels. It also introduces the basic EEG terminology (see the key words).

Lateralization of temporal lobe epilepsy and learning disabilities, as defined by disability-related civil rights law.

Purpose: Epilepsy research has identified higher rates of learning disorders in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). However, most studies have not adequately assessed complex functional adult learning skills, such as reading comprehension and written language. We designed this study to evaluate our predictions that higher rates of reading comprehension, written language, and calculation disabilities would be associated with left TLE versus right TLE.

Sleep disorders.

Humans spend approximately one third of their lives asleep. Although the same medical disorders that occur during wakefulness persist into sleep, there are many disorders that occur exclusively during sleep or are manifestations of a disturbance of normal sleep-wake physiology. The most common reason for referral to a sleep laboratory is OSA, whereas the most common sleep disorder is insomnia.