Type II focal cortical dysplasia: electroclinical study and surgical outcome in 31 pediatric patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the electroclinical features and surgical outcome of 31 pediatric patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) type II.

Material And Methods: We conducted a retrospective, descriptive study of 31 patients with FCD type II followed between 1998 and 2011. We included patients with FCD type II confirmed by histopathological examination with abnormal magnetic resonance imaging and at least 1 year of follow-up.

Intracranial video-EEG and surgery for focal atonic seizures.

Atonic seizures are epileptic attacks characterised by a sudden loss or diminution of muscle tone. Structures corresponding to inhibitory cortical areas, such as the primary negative motor area or the supplementary negative motor area, could be responsible. We present findings observed in a patient with atonic seizures due to focal epilepsy, who underwent intracranial video-EEG monitoring and epilepsy surgery, and discuss possible underlying mechanisms.

Vagus nerve stimulation: effectiveness and tolerability in 64 paediatric patients with refractory epilepsies.

Aim: We discuss the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) as adjunctive therapy in 64 paediatric patients with refractory epilepsies.

Materials And Methods: Sixty-four patients (34 male and 30 female) implanted with VNS for refractory epilepsy were analysed. Electroclinical features were compatible with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in 46 patients, focal epilepsies in 10 patients, Dravet syndrome in three patients, epilepsy with myoclonic-astatic seizures in three patients, and West syndrome in two.

Hemispherectomy in pediatric patients with epilepsy: a study of 45 cases with special emphasis on epileptic syndromes.

Objective: In this study we report the clinical outcomes of hemispherectomy for epilepsy in pediatric patients with special emphasis on the epileptic syndromes and their etiologies.

Material And Methods: We retrospectively studied 45 patients with medically refractory epilepsy with hemispheric lesions who underwent hemispherectomy at the "Hospital de Pediatría Prof. Dr.

Epilepsy surgery in Argentina: long-term results in a comprehensive epilepsy centre.

Rationale: Epilepsy surgery procedures started in Argentina more than 50 years ago. This is the first comprehensive and systematic survey of epilepsy surgery long-term outcome from our country.

Methods: A descriptive cohort study was conducted between 1998 and 2008 for drug-resistant epilepsy surgery with a minimum of 12 months follow-up (n=110).

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis: study of 42 children.

Purpose: We present the electroclinical features, treatment, and evolution of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS).

Material And Methods: We analyzed the charts of forty-two patients who met the diagnostic criteria of MTLE-HS. The mean follow-up after seizure onset was 10.

Vagus nerve stimulation: effectiveness and tolerability in patients with epileptic encephalopathies.

Purpose: We discuss the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) as adjunctive therapy in 26 patients with refractory epileptic encephalopathies (EEs).

Material And Methods: Twenty-six patients (17 male and 9 female) with electroclinical features compatible with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) in 20 patients, Dravet syndrome (DS) in 3 patients, and epilepsy with myoclonic-astatic seizures (EMAS) in 3 patients implanted with the NCP system were analyzed.

Results: In our series of patients with LGS, 17 cases showed a significant improvement in seizure control, with a reduction in seizure frequency of at least 50%.

New proteins configure a brain drug resistance map in tuberous sclerosis.

Epileptogenic cortical tubers, characterized by dysplastic neurons and balloon cells, is a frequent feature of tuberous sclerosis. In severe tuberous sclerosis-affected individuals, seizures are refractory to medication. Multidrug resistance proteins (multidrug resistance protein-1 [MDR-1] and multidrug resistance-associated protein-1 [MRP-1]) have been found to be highly expressed in epileptogenic cortical tubers.

Use of ultrasonic aspiration for dural opening in cranial reoperations: technical note.

Objective: Dural detachment from the brain in cranial reoperations has been accomplished previously by selective coagulation and the cutting of brain-dural adhesions. The results of ultrasonic aspiration during tumor surgery or brain cutting procedures led the authors to speculate that the detachment of the dura mater from brain tumors by applying the Cavitron ultrasonic surgical aspirator (Valleylab, Boulder, CO [formerly Cavitron, Inc., Stamford, CT]) to the brain-dura mater interface could be used to reduce bleeding and facilitate dural opening during cranial reoperations.

Multidrug resistance proteins in tuberous sclerosis and refractory epilepsy.

Tuberous sclerosis is an autosomal dominant syndrome characterized by seizures that are refractory to medication in severely affected individuals. The mechanism involved in drug resistance in tuberous sclerosis is unknown. The proteins MDR-1 (multidrug resistance) and MRP-1 (multidrug resistance-associated protein-1) are linked to chemotherapy resistance in tumor cells.

Symptomatic supratentorial arachnoid cysts in children.

This study was undertaken to evaluate the clinical and radiologic long-term outcome of symptomatic primary arachnoid cysts in pediatric patients. Thirty-three children, ranging from 2 months to 17 years of age (mean age, 6 years) were treated. Craniotomy and fenestration of the cyst were used for temporal fossa and midline cysts in 24 patients (73%); later, two patients required shunt placement.

Treatment of refractory partial status epilepticus with multiple subpial transection: case report.

Status epilepticus (SE) represents a medical emergency that annually affects 60,000--150,000 individuals in the United States. Selective neuronal loss in vulnerable areas has been pathologically demonstrated following convulsive SE primarily affecting the limbic system, thalamus and cerebellum. Morbidity in those cases that follow refractory SE (RSE) is poorly documented.

Extratemporal epilepsy in children: candidate selection and surgical treatment.

From June 1988 to June 1998, 60 children with extratemporal epilepsies (EE), most of whom were symptomatic, underwent surgery. All patients were studied by means of CT scanning, MRI and scalp EEG. Video-telemetry was used in 40 cases.

[Rasmussen syndrome].

Introduction: Rasmussen's encephalitis is a neurological disorder probably of immunological origin, characterized by intractable epilepsy, neurological deterioration and the presence of antibodies against R3 glutamate receptors.

Objective: To present the experience of an Argentinian Paediatric Neurology Service during the past 7 years.

Material And Methods: We analyzed the clinical histories of 12 patients with RS as defined by the diagnostic criteria proposed by Hart et al.

Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor: morphological, immunocytochemical, and deoxyribonucleic acid analyses in a pediatric series.

Overtreatment by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy for central nervous system tumors in infancy and childhood may be deleterious, so the recognition of surgically curable clinicopathological entities is mandatory. The dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor is a complex multinodular lesion consisting of glial nodules, associated with a specific glioneuronal element and/or with focal cortical dysplasia, and occurring in young patients presenting with intractable, mostly complex partial, seizures without neurological deterioration. We report on 14 patients; 9 were from a series of 600 pediatric patients with intracranial central nervous system tumors studied at a single institution from 1988 to 1993, and 5 were referred from other pediatric hospitals.