Epilepsy News

This work lays the foundation to continue studying inhibitory transmission in Infantile Spasms. Future studies will reveal if stopping this excess PV+ IN death may be a therapeutic target or a cure for Infantile Spasms.

Body image dissatisfaction, a marker for reduced quality of life (QOL), showed elevated levels of prevalence among adults with epilepsy, according to study findings published in Epilepsy & Behavior.

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have discovered higher levels of immune proteins in the blood before and after an epileptic seizure. The possible biomarkers can be identified using a simple blood test. Diagnosing epilepsy is currently resource-intensive and distinguishing it from other conditions can be challenging. Better diagnostic methods as soon as the patient seeks medical care after a suspected seizure is therefore an urgent necessity.

New research by the Human Brain Project has found that in the brains of patients with epilepsy, changes in large scale neuronal activations can be detected in the brain’s resting state activity, even when no seizure is ongoing. The non-invasive approach could lead to a new method to aid epilepsy diagnostics.

Caregivers of adults with epilepsy were recruited to participate in an online survey examining health, well-being, COVID-19 experiences, and caregiver burden from October-December, 2020.

Perampanel was shown to be well tolerated and effective in the treatment of children and adolescents with epilepsy, according to study findings published in Brain and Development.

Purple Day®, webinars, our upcoming 25th Anniversary Gala, and more in this update!

Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) affected several aspects of the day-to-day lives of bereaved relatives. Though methods of coping were similar to the usual strategies adopted by all bereaved relatives, advocacy work related to raising awareness about epilepsy and SUDEP was unique to this group.

The latest research on cannabidiol and seizures, the possible cause of infantile and epileptic spasms syndrome, the brain's immune system, and more in this issue of Epilepsy Research News.

Certain structures within the brains of children with Angelman syndrome were altered compared with unaffected children of the same age, an MRI study concluded.

A decision tool using a small number of historical clinical features accurately predicts the probability of epilepsy. In indeterminate cases, AI-assisted EEG helps resolve uncertainty. This tool holds promise for use by healthcare workers without specialty epilepsy training if validated in an independent cohort.

Differences in sense of control, cognitive inhibition, and selective attention in pediatric functional seizures (FS) versus matched controls implicate these as potential novel treatment targets. Retraining and Control Therapy (ReACT), which targets these factors, has been shown in a randomized controlled trial to be effective in improving pediatric FS with 82% of patients having complete symptom remission at 60 days following treatment.