Epilepsy & behavior : E&B
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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause a myriad of sequelae depending on its type, severity, and location of injured structures. These can include mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders, personality disorders, aggressive disorders, cognitive changes, chronic pain, sleep problems, motor or sensory impairments, endocrine dysfunction, gastrointestinal disturbances, increased risk of infections, pulmonary disturbances, parkinsonism, posttraumatic epilepsy, or their combinations. ⋯ In parallel with morbidogenesis, spontaneous recovery occurs both in experimental models and in human TBI. A great challenge remains; how can we dissect the specific mechanisms that lead to the different endophenotypes, such as posttraumatic epileptogenesis, in order to identify treatment approaches that would not compromise recovery?
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Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · Aug 2014
Validation of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression screening in adults with epilepsy.
This study aimed to assess the accuracy and operating characteristics of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression screening in adults with epilepsy. ⋯ The PHQ-9 is an efficient and nonproprietary depression screening instrument with excellent accuracy validated for use in adult patients with epilepsy as well as multiple other medical populations.
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Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · Aug 2014
Zoning in on parents' needs: understanding parents' perspectives in order to provide person-centered care.
In order to develop a theoretical framework for person-centered care models for children with epilepsy and their parents, we conducted a qualitative study to explore and understand parents' needs, values, and preferences to ultimately reduce barriers that may be impeding parents from accessing and obtaining help for their children's co-occurring problems. ⋯ Clinicians working with individuals and families with epilepsy are aware that epilepsy is a complex and unpredictable disorder. The zones help clinicians conceptualize and build a framework within which to understand how parents view their child's struggles, which influences the parents' ability to understand and act on clinician feedback and recommendations. Zones allow for increased understanding of the parent at a particular time and provide a structure within which a clinician can provide guidance and feedback to meet parents' needs, values, and preferences. This theory allows clinicians to meet the parents where they are and address their needs in a way that benefits the parents, family, and child.
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Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · Aug 2014
Case ReportsGelastic epilepsy without hypothalamic hamartoma: three additional cases.
We describe three children with gelastic seizures without hypothalamic hamartoma whose seizures were characterized by typical laughing attacks associated or not with other seizure types. Ictal/interictal EEG and magnetic resonance imaging were performed. ⋯ These three cases confirm that gelastic epilepsy without hypothalamic hamartoma, both in cryptogenic or symptomatic patients (one child showed a dysplastic right parietotemporal lesion), usually has a more benign natural history, and carbamazepine seems to be the most efficacious therapy to obtain both immediate and long-term seizure control. These findings need to be confirmed in a larger sample of children affected by gelastic epilepsy without hypothalamic hamartoma.
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Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · Aug 2014
Effect of positive airway pressure therapy on seizure control in patients with epilepsy and obstructive sleep apnea.
Previous studies suggest that treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in patients with epilepsy can improve seizure control. We investigated the effect of positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy on seizures in adults with epilepsy referred to the Cleveland Clinic for polysomnography (PSG) from 1997 to 2010. Seizure outcome at baseline and 1 year later was compared in patients with no OSA (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] <5), patients with PAP-treated OSA, and patients with untreated OSA. ⋯ After adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, AHI, and epilepsy duration, we found that the odds of successful outcomes in subjects in the group with PAP-treated OSA were 9.9 and 3.91 times those of the groups with untreated OSA and no OSA, respectively. The group with PAP-treated OSA had 32.3 times the odds of having a ≥50% seizure reduction compared with the group with untreated OSA and 6.13 times compared with the group with no OSA. Positive airway pressure therapy appears to produce beneficial effects on seizures in adult patients with epilepsy and OSA.