Epileptiform discharges in the anterior thalamus of epilepsy patients.

Anterior thalamus (ANT) deep-brain stimulation (DBS) is an approved therapy for drug resistant epilepsy. We aimed to identify interictal epileptiform discharges (IED) in the ANT and to investigate their relationship with surface IEDs. Fifteen patients were monitored for two consecutive nights with externalized thalamic leads to analyze the intrathalamic epileptiform activities (TIED).

Temporal association between sleep spindles and ripples in the human anterior and mediodorsal thalamus.

Sleep spindles are major oscillatory components of Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep, reflecting hyperpolarization-rebound sequences of thalamocortical neurons. Reports suggest a link between sleep spindles and several forms of high-frequency oscillations which are considered as expressions of pathological off-line neural plasticity in the central nervous system. Here we investigated the relationship between thalamic sleep spindles and ripples in the anterior and mediodorsal nuclei (ANT and MD) of epilepsy patients.

Effects of anterior thalamic nucleus DBS on interictal heart rate variability in patients with refractory epilepsy.

Objective: Heart rate variability (HRV) changes were investigated by several studies after resective epilepsy surgery/vagus nerve stimulation. We examined anterior thalamic nucleus (ANT)-deep brain stimulation (DBS) effects on HRV parameters.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 30 drug-resistant epilepsy patients' medical record data and collected electrocardiographic epochs recorded during video- electroencephalography monitoring sessions while awake and during N1- or N2-stage sleep pre-DBS implantation surgery, post-surgery but pre-stimulation, and after stimulation began.

PET/MRI in the Presurgical Evaluation of Patients with Epilepsy: A Concordance Analysis.

The aim of our prospective study was to evaluate the clinical impact of hybrid [F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging ([F]-FDG PET/MRI) on the decision workflow of epileptic patients with discordant electroclinical and MRI data. A novel mathematical model was introduced for a clinical concordance calculation supporting the classification of our patients by subgroups of clinical decisions. Fifty-nine epileptic patients with discordant clinical and diagnostic results or MRI negativity were included in this study.

The role of hybrid FDG-PET/MRI on decision-making in presurgical evaluation of drug-resistant epilepsy.

Background: When MRI fails to detect a potentially epileptogenic lesion, the chance of a favorable outcome after epilepsy surgery becomes significantly lower (from 60 to 90% to 20-65%). Hybrid FDG-PET/MRI may provide additional information for identifying the epileptogenic zone. We aimed to investigate the possible effect of the introduction of hybrid FDG-PET/MRI into the algorithm of the decision-making in both lesional and non-lesional drug-resistant epileptic patients.

REM Sleep Microstates in the Human Anterior Thalamus.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is an elusive neural state that is associated with a variety of functions from physiological regulatory mechanisms to complex cognitive processing. REM periods consist of the alternation of phasic and tonic REM microstates that differ in spontaneous and evoked neural activity. Although previous studies indicate, that cortical and thalamocortical activity differs across phasic and tonic microstates, the characterization of neural activity, particularly in subcortical structures that are critical in the initiation and maintenance of REM sleep is still limited in humans.

Thalamic oscillatory activity may predict response to deep brain stimulation of the anterior nuclei of the thalamus.

We hypothesized that local/regional properties of stimulated structure/circuitry contribute to the effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS). We analyzed intracerebral electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings from externalized DBS electrodes targeted bilaterally in the anterior nuclei of the thalamus (ANT) in 12 patients (six responders, six nonresponders) with more than 1 year of follow-up care. In the bipolar local field potentials of the EEG, spectral power (PW) and power spectral entropy (PSE) were calculated in the passbands 1-4, 4-8, 8-12, 12-20, 20-45, 65-80, 80-200 and 200-500 Hz.

[Changes of the outcomes of epilepsy surgery within 10 years in the National Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, Hungary].

Unlabelled: Összefoglaló. Bevezetés és célkitűzés: A terápiarezisztens fokális epilepsziák sebészeti kezelése elterjedten használt kezelési lehetőség. Célunk az epilepsziasebészet-hatékonyság változásának vizsgálata egy évtizednyi távlatból a budapesti centrumban.

Presence of synchrony-generating hubs in the human epileptic neocortex.

Key Points: •Initiation of pathological synchronous events such as epileptic spikes and seizures is linked to the hyperexcitability of the neuronal network in both humans and animals. •In the present study, we show that epileptiform interictal-like spikes and seizures emerged in human neocortical slices by blocking GABA receptors, following the disappearance of the spontaneously occurring synchronous population activity. •Large variability of temporally and spatially simple and complex spikes was generated by tissue from epileptic patients, whereas only simple events appeared in samples from non-epileptic patients.

European trends in epilepsy surgery.

Objective: Resective surgery is effective in treating drug-resistant focal epilepsy, but it remains unclear whether improved diagnostics influence postsurgical outcomes. Here, we compared practice and outcomes over 2 periods 15 years apart.

Methods: Sixteen European centers retrospectively identified 2 cohorts of children and adults who underwent epilepsy surgery in the period of 1997 to 1998 (n = 562) or 2012 to 2013 (n = 736).

Hyperexcitability of the network contributes to synchronization processes in the human epileptic neocortex.

Key Points: Hyperexcitability and hypersynchrony of neuronal networks are thought to be linked to the generation of epileptic activity in both humans and animal models. Here we show that human epileptic postoperative neocortical tissue is able to generate two different types of synchronies in vitro. Epileptiform bursts occurred only in slices derived from epileptic patients and were hypersynchronous events characterized by high levels of excitability.

[Examination of late pulmonary toxicity in children treated for malignancies].

Introduction: The present investigation was based on a survey in 2005, in which the authors found pulmonary function abnormalities in survivors of childhood cancer, who were treated with anticancer therapy.

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to follow-up childhood cancer survivors and detect late pulmonary toxicity.

Patients And Methods: Lung function test was performed with spirometry in 26 survivors participated in this study (10 females and 16 males; mean age, 19.