Neurology
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Migraine and headache in general have been associated with subsequent risk of stroke, primarily in retrospective case-control studies. Prospective data evaluating the association between specific headache forms and stroke are sparse. ⋯ In these prospective data, migraine was not associated with total, ischemic, or hemorrhagic stroke. In subgroup analyses, we found increased risks of total and ischemic stroke for migraineurs with aura. The absolute risk increase was, however, low, with 3.8 additional cases per year per 10,000 women.
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The effect of a single dose of 1,000 mg of levetiracetam on essential tremor was investigated in 24 patients in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. There was a significant reduction of hand tremor for at least 2 hours as measured by accelerometry and functional tests.
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Recent findings argue for a pathway in humans for sensing the orientation of gravity and controlling upright body posture, separate from the one for orientation perception of the visual world. Stroke patients with contraversive pushing were shown to experience their body as oriented upright when actually tilted about 20 degrees to the ipsilesional side, in spite of normal visual-vestibular functioning. A recent study suggested the involvement of posterolateral thalamus typically associated with the disorder. ⋯ Posterior thalamus seems to be fundamentally involved in our control of upright body posture. Higher pressure, swelling, and other secondary pathologic processes associated with posterior thalamic hemorrhage (vs thalamic infarction) may provoke contraversive pushing in combination with additional neurologic symptoms.
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Seizures may occur after orthotopic liver transplantation. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are used to treat these seizures, but the immunosuppressant regimen also may be altered. Levetiracetam is an attractive treatment because of its efficacy, lack of hepatic enzyme induction, and its rapid attainment of serum levels. Treatment with levetiracetam is efficacious, and levetiracetam-treated patients require significantly lower doses of immunosuppressant medications to achieve an equivalent antirejection effect.
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Case Reports
The frequency of intractable seizures after stopping AEDs in seizure-free children with epilepsy.
After 1 to 4 years, seizure-free children with epilepsy are encouraged to stop daily antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment. Approximately 70% are successful. The authors examined how often intractable epilepsy follows discontinuation of AED treatment in a population-based cohort of children with epilepsy. ⋯ Approximately 1% of children who became free of seizure and discontinued antiepileptic drug treatment had recurrent seizures that could not be controlled again with medication. The authors were unable to predict this outcome. It remains unclear whether a similar outcome would have occurred if antiepileptic drugs had not been discontinued.