Individuals with familial cerebral cavernous malformation had a high incidence rate of seizures, according to study findings published in Neurology.
“Seizures related to a cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) often begin in childhood, but seizure incidence rates in children with either sporadic or familial forms of CCM are not well described. In familial cases, a greater number of CCMs or genetic variations may influence the likelihood of a seizure or earlier seizure onset,” Christine Fox, MD, MAS, associate professor and director of the Pediatric Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease Center at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues wrote. “We aimed to measure the seizure incidence rate, examine seizure predictors and characterize epilepsy severity in a cohort of children and adults with familial cerebral cavernous malformation (FCCM).”
“Our study suggests FCCM cases with seizures have more frequent ER visits and hospitalizations, contributing to increased health care costs, compared [with] those without seizures. These data may be particularly important for individuals with FCCM as new treatment strategies become available,” Fox and colleagues wrote. “Future studies are needed to determine the best practices to reduce the burden of seizures and epilepsy related to FCCM.