Immunization stress-related responses presenting as psychogenic non-epileptic seizures following HPV vaccination in Rio Branco, Brazil.

Importance: The absence of a positive diagnosis of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) in immunization stress-related response (ISRR) clusters may have not only a direct impact on affected patients' health but may also reduce compliance to national vaccination programs. It is therefore crucial to develop efficient diagnostic tools and a feasible proposal for proper communication and treatment of ISRR.

Purpose: To explore the psychogenic nature of patients' convulsive seizures in a suspected outbreak of an ISRR cluster following human papillomavirus vaccination in Rio Branco, Brazil.

Ictal SPECT in Psychogenic Nonepileptic and Epileptic Seizures.

Background: Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are a common and debilitating problem in patients with epilepsy. They can be virtually indistinguishable from epileptic seizures, demanding video-electroencaphalogram monitoring, which is costly and not widely available, for differential diagnosis. Specific functional brain correlates of PNES have not been demonstrated so far.

Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures and psychogenic movement disorders: two sides of the same coin?

Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) and psychogenic movement disorders (PMD) are commonly seen in Neurology practice and are categorized in the DSM-5 as functional neurological disorders/conversion disorders. This review encompasses historical and epidemiological data, clinical aspects, diagnostic criteria, treatment and prognosis of these rather challenging and often neglected patients. As a group they have puzzled generations of neurologists and psychiatrists and in some ways continue to do so, perhaps embodying and justifying the ultimate and necessary link between these specialties.

Comorbid epilepsy and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: how well do patients and caregivers distinguish between the two.

Purpose: To determine whether patients with comorbid epilepsy and psychogenic nonepileptic seizure (PNES) and their caregivers can distinguish between these two events at least one year after initial diagnosis, and to investigate factors associated with correct identification.

Methods: Adult patients with at least a one year diagnosis of both epilepsy and PNES, confirmed through video-electroencephalography (VEEG), were selected. Patients and a caregiver of their choice were interviewed and shown videos containing the patients' epileptic and PNES events.

A critical and descriptive approach to interictal behavior with the Neurobehavior Inventory (NBI).

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the Neurobehavior Inventory (NBI) in a group of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients from a tertiary care center, correlating its scores with the presence of psychiatric symptoms.

Methods: Clinical and sociodemographic data from ninety-six TLE outpatients were collected, and a neuropsychiatric evaluation was performed with the following instruments: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), structured psychiatric interview (MINI-PLUS), Neurobehavior Inventory (NBI), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D).

Results: Some traits evaluated by the NBI showed adequate internal consistency (mean inter-item correlation between 0.

Psychoses of epilepsy: a study comparing the clinical features of patients with focal versus generalized epilepsies.

In the literature, psychosis of epilepsy (POE) has been described as one of the most frequent psychiatric comorbidities of epilepsy, occurring particularly in association with temporal lobe epilepsy. However, the presence of such psychiatric disorders among patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsies has also been mentioned. In this study, we evaluated the clinical features of psychotic disorders in a series of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy related to mesial temporal sclerosis (TLE-MTS) and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy with the aim of describing and comparing the clinical patterns of the psychotic symptoms in such frequent and important epilepsy syndromes.

Epilepsy in patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of epilepsy in patients who presented psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). The evaluation was carried out during intensive VEEG monitoring in a diagnostic center for epilepsy in a university hospital. The difficulties involved in reaching this diagnosis are discussed.

Evaluating patients with suspected nonepileptic psychogenic seizures.

The authors evaluate 26 patients with suspected psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) who were referred to prolonged intensive video EEG (VEEG) in an epilepsy diagnostic center at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Following the investigative protocol, 50% of the patients received a diagnosis of PNES, 15.4% of epilepsy, and 34.

Psychiatric diagnoses of patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.

Objective: Our purpose was to present and discuss the psychiatric diagnoses of patients who presented psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) during video-electroencephalographic monitoring (VEEG).

Methods: Out of 98 patients, a total of 28 patients presented PNES during the diagnostic procedure. In those cases in which the PNES that occurred during VEEG were validated by clinical history (clinical validation), and by showing the recorded event on video to an observer close to the patient (observer validation), was defined psychogenic non-epileptic seizure disorder (PNESD).

[Epidemiologic aspects and relevance of mental disorders associated with epilepsy].

Epilepsy is the most common serious neurological disorder. Worldwide, around 50 million people have epilepsy, 40 million of which in developing countries. Though epilepsy is predominantly treatable, most patients in these countries remain without treatment.

Attitudes of Brazilian psychiatrists toward people with epilepsy.

The purpose of this survey was to evaluate the experience of Brazilian psychiatrists in treatment, formal training, attitudes, and knowledge with respect to epilepsy (and associated mental disorders). One hundred fifty-seven Brazilian psychiatrists completed a specially developed questionnaire. Most (95%) had previously treated patients with epilepsy and mental disorders.

Safety and efficacy of ECT in mental disorders associated with epilepsy: report of three cases.

The authors report on the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the treatment of three patients with mental disorders associated with epilepsy. They discuss several aspects related to safety, efficacy, and indications of ECT in these patients. The observed results, as well as published data, provide evidence that ECT is a safe and effective therapeutic option for some patients with mental disorders associated with epilepsy.

Volumetric evidence of a left laterality effect in epileptic psychosis.

We investigated anatomic alterations and lateralization effect in the mesial temporal lobe structures (amygdala and hippocampus) in epileptic psychosis MRI volumetric measurements. Patients with epileptic psychosis and normal controls were studied. Left hippocampus values were significantly smaller for patients (P<0.

Surgical treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy with interictal psychosis: results of six cases.

We describe the postsurgical outcome of six patients with medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy and interictal psychosis who underwent temporal lobe resection. All patients were submitted to a comprehensive presurgical investigation, including prolonged video-EEG monitoring. Despite their psychotic disorders, all patients were able to provide informed consent and we were able to complete the investigation of all cases.

[Reliability of volumetric measures of mesial temporal structures].

Rationale: The development of reliable techniques for volumetric measurement of mesial temporal structures (amygdala, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide data for the study of neuropsychiatric disorders, mainly temporal lobe epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

Method: We investigated these techniques performing intraobserver and interobserver reliability study concerning normal controls, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease patients using the intra-class correlation coefficient.

Results: Intra-observer reliability of evaluated structures ranged from 0.

Volumetric MRI measurements can differentiate Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and normal aging.

Background: Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been extensively studied in the last decade as a method to help with the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In recent years, researchers have also started investigating if that technique would be useful to identify individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), differentiating them from AD patients and from normal elderly controls. This research project was planned to assess the accuracy of volumetric MRI to differentiate those groups of individuals.