Purpose Of Review: Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are the most common Functional Neurological Disorder/Conversion Disorder subtype. Significant advances have been made related to diagnosis, neurobiology, and treatment. In this review, we summarize updates in diagnosis and management over the past 3 years.
Recent Findings: Although evidence is mixed for the treatment of PNES, psychotherapeutic modalities remain a powerful instrument to empower patients and reduce seizures. A multidisciplinary, holistic approach is beneficial. While seizure freedom in all patients may not be the achieved endpoint in this chronic, paroxysmal disorder, quality of life can be improved with treatment. Additional treatment modalities and further research are needed for patients who are refractory to current treatment. Evidence-based therapies exist for PNES, and recent findings represent an increased understanding of the clinical and neurophysiologic aspects of PNES.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11910-022-01209-3 | DOI Listing |
Epilepsia Open
January 2025
Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), Copilco Universidad, Mexico city, Mexico.
The potential of dietary interventions, particularly the use of the ketogenic diet in patients with Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES), remains underexplored. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of a 6-week ketogenic diet (Modified Atkins Diet, MAD) intervention in adult patients with PNES and to compare its effects on PNES frequency and other variables against a control healthy diet (CD). A feasibility pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted at a tertiary neurology hospital, enrolling outpatients diagnosed with PNES and assigning them to either MAD or CD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain Behav
January 2025
Technion Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel.
Objective: Medical personnel show difficulty in differentiating psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) from epileptic seizures (ES). The purpose of this study was to conduct an initial feasibility assessment of the global dynamic impression (GDI) principle and to evaluate its effectiveness in enabling the diagnosis of epileptic versus psychogenic seizures using video footage of events, even by untrained personnel METHODS: We based this study on video footage showing five videos of PNES and five ES videos. We asked physicians and nurses from the emergency department, internal medicine department, neurology department, and medical students to classify the videos before and after learning the GDI principle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Patients who experience seizures, including PNES, are usually advised to discontinue driving, or have their driving privileges revoked until a determined period of seizure-freedom is achieved. In this retrospective study, patients with PNES who requested driving privileges or reported having resumed driving were compared to those who did not on measures of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and cognitive flexibility/motor speed.
Methods: DiagnosisofPNESwasconfirmedwithvideo-EEG.
J Neurol
January 2025
Morehouse School of Medicine, Neuroscience Institute, 720 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta, GA, 30310, USA.
Objectives: The ability to differentiate epileptic- and non-epileptic events is challenging due to a lack of reliable molecular seizure biomarker that provide a retrospective diagnosis. Here, we use next generation sequencing methods on whole blood samples to identify changes in RNA expression following seizures.
Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 32 patients undergoing video electroencephalogram (vEEG) monitoring.
Seizure
January 2025
The National Centre for Epilepsy, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, Full Member of European Reference Network on Rare and Complex Epilepsies EpiCARE, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Objective: Functional/dissociative seizures (FDS) are common and pose a considerable burden on both individual patients and healthcare systems. Cognitive complaints are frequent in patients with FDS. Previous studies on cognitive function in patients with FDS have yielded mixed results.
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