Epilepsy

The risk for suicide is greatest during the first 6 months after epilepsy diagnosis and in those with coexisting psychiatric illness.

Most, though not all, epilepsy patients with depression or anxiety exhibited improved mood after surgery.

Surgical resection can safely and effectively treat medically refractory epilepsy. However, few prospective studies have examined who is most likely to benefit from the surgery. . . .

In this population-based cohort study of more than 2 million Danish people, researchers examined the relations among epilepsy, psychosis, and family history of the two . . .

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy is arguably the most common and most pharmacoresistant form of epilepsy and is the prototype of a surgically remediable syndrome. However, . . .

These authors originally recruited a cohort of people with newly diagnosed seizures or epilepsy from 275 general practices in the U.K. and, during the past . . .

Time seizure-free is the main determinant of quality-of-life improvements.

A direct comparison of a newer and an older AED as monotherapy

Repeated sessions of slow repetitive TMS reduced seizures for up to 2 months in patients with cortical malformations, but more work remains to establish this treatment.

As always, selection of ideal candidates is paramount.

In this comprehensive, retrospective study, researchers assessed whether 2 years of passive implementation (journal publication) followed by 2 years of active implementation (internet resources, handouts . . .

This article reviews the rather limited evidence regarding specific settings of the vagus nerve stimulator for treating depression and epilepsy.

These researchers aimed to clarify the risk for congenital malformations in offspring of women with epilepsy treated with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Using a large, population-based . . .

The incidence of epilepsy is highest in people older than age 60, prompting these authors to investigate the safety and efficacy of antiepileptic drug (AED) . . .

The strength of evidence varies for the potential beneficial or harmful psychotropic effects of different epilepsy therapies.

Brain MRI is key in evaluating patients with epilepsy (NeuroRx 2005; 2:384). Acute seizures may cause transient MRI abnormalities (Neurology 2000; 55:737) that . . .

These data provide more information on the risks and benefits of each course, but treatment decisions must still be individualized.

This study revealed a dramatically higher frequency of obstructive sleep apnea among adults older than 50 with worsening or new seizures, compared to those with stable seizures.

Subclinical epileptic activity is common, but what should be done about it?

AED retention rate is a reasonable performance measure combining drug efficacy and tolerability, although available data do not distinguish reliably among the drugs.