PURPOSE The goals of this study are to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam (LEV) as add-on therapy in children with refractory epilepsies and to determine the value of LEV blood level monitoring in this population. METHODS Sixty-nine children (39 males and 30 females) treated with LEV between 2006 and 2007 were selected. Their medical files were reviewed for LEV efficacy a...

OBJECTIVE To assess efficacy and safety of adjunctive perampanel in patients with drug-resistant, primary generalized tonic-clonic (PGTC) seizures in idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). METHODS In this multicenter, double-blind study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01393743; funded by Eisai Inc.), patients 12 years or older with PGTC seizures and IGE were randomized to placebo or peramp...

We report the results of a double-blind cross-over study comparing clobazam and placebo in the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsy. Fifty-two percent of patients had greater than 50% reduction in their seizure frequency when taking the clobazam. During the placebo phase no patient recorded a greater than 50% reduction in seizure frequency. Sex, age, seizure type, intellect did not appear...

Treatment response in autoimmune epilepsy is variable. Achieving seizure reduction is often dependent on the specific neuronal antibody. Glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65)-associated epilepsy is among the most challenging of the autoimmune epilepsies to treat, often requiring multiple antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and aggressive immunotherapy to attain a reduction in seizure frequency. There h...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to determine whether African-Americans and Caucasians who receive care at a tertiary epilepsy center can be distinguished on a variety of demographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables. METHODS We surveyed 111 consecutive patients followed at a tertiary epilepsy center. RESULTS On univariate analysis, African-Americans had significantly more seizures (P...

Interest in the years of reproductive changes for women with epilepsy (WWE), specifically perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause has been emerging in the epilepsy community. This article discusses evidence for changes in seizure frequency during perimenopause and postmenopause. Further, a catamenial epilepsy pattern during the reproductive years may be a hallmark for the observed seizure fr...

BACKGROUND Neuromodulation-based treatments have become increasingly important in epilepsy treatment. Most patients with epilepsy treated with neuromodulation do not achieve complete seizure freedom, and, therefore, previous studies of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy have focused instead on reduction of seizure frequency as a measure of treatment response. OBJECTIVE To elucidate rates a...

The aim of this prospective, uncontrolled clinical study was to evaluate the tolerability and the efficacy of levetiracetam as add-on treatment in 78 adults and 44 children with intractable epilepsy. The patients' seizure frequency in the 8 weeks baseline period was compared to their seizure frequency after a mean follow-up of 8 months of treatment.A greater than 50% reduction in seizure freque...

The changes of electroencephalogram induced by maximal electroshock were studied in comparison with behavioral seizures in mice. After electroshock, mice showed tonic flexor (TF) seizure, tonic extensor (TE) seizure, and clonic (CL) seizure, in this order of occurrence. At the same time, high frequency spike or spike and wave complex in the cortex was observed, and thereafter, the frequency of ...