Epileptic disorders : international epilepsy journal with videotape
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Multicenter Study
Epilepsy in children with congenital hemiplegia: correlation between clinical, EEG and neuroimaging findings.
the aim of this retrospective, multicentre study was to investigate the relationship between epilepsy, clinical, electroencephalographic (EEG) and neuroimaging findings in children with congenital hemiplegia (CH). ⋯ epileptic seizures developed in more than one third of patients with CH, although EEG abnormalities were evident in the majority of them. The prevalence of epilepsy is closely related to the severity of hemiparesis, the extent of neuroimaging findings and the degree of EEG abnormalities. The absence of EEG abnormalities and/or normal (or minor) neuroimaging findings was negatively related to the occurrence of epilepsy.
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Clinical Trial
Deep brain stimulation in epilepsy with particular reference to the subthalamic nucleus.
Alternative methods, for the treatment of medically refractory epileptic patients, who cannot be treated by resective surgery, such as chronic deep brain neurostimulation, are under development. Such methods have been used in the cerebellum, various thalamic nuclei, and in the caudate nucleus. In Grenoble, encouraged by the suppressive effects of pharmacological or electrical inhibition of the STN on different types of seizure in animal models of epilepsy, and by our experience with STN high frequency stimulation (HFS) in patients with movement disorders, we have evaluated the high frequency stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN HFS). ⋯ An additional patient suffering from severe myoclonic epilepsy (Dravet syndrome) also responded to STN HFS, with a weaker reduction of seizure frequency. The fifth patient who suffered from an autosomal dominant frontal lobe epilepsy with insulo-frontal seizures did not show any improvement. These results suggest that stimulation of STN could be a promising treatment for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy who would not benefit from conventional surgery.