Neurons throughout the brain suddenly discharging synchronously and recurrently cause primarily generalized seizures. Discharges localized awhile in one part of the brain cause focal-onset seizures. A genetically determined generalized hyperexcitability had been predicted in primarily generalized seizures, but surprisingly the first epilepsy gene discovered, CHRNA4, was in a focal (frontal lobe...

We report the case of a 23-year-old left-handed woman with medically intractable praxis-induced reflex seizures mainly precipitated by writing. Selective resection of subtle end-of-sulcus cortical dysplasia in the right inferior parietal lobule resulted in freedom from seizures. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of praxis-induced reflex seizures mainly precipitated by writing...

Bathing-related epilepsy (BRE), which is also known as water immersion epilepsy, is a rare, benign, reflex epilepsy. It presents with focal seizures that occur during bathing with hot water and has a favorable prognosis (1). The exact mechanism underlying these seizures is unknown (1). This epilepsy is frequently confused with hot water epilepsy (HWE) and is generally seen during childhood and ...

PURPOSE An increased propensity for seizures is associated with different stages of the sleep-wake cycle. In this study, we prospectively analyzed patients with new-onset epilepsy and investigated the clinical correlates of the yield obtained from sleep electroencephalography (EEG) recordings in patients with a normal wakefulness EEG. METHODS All patients admitted to our epilepsy unit due to ...

PURPOSE In order to assess whether focal epileptic seizures can be detected and distinguished from exercise we evaluated four different heart rate variability (HRV) methods with short term moving window analysis of 30, 50 or 100 R-R intervals or seconds per analyzed window. METHODS The four methods consisted of: (1) reciprocal high frequency power based on Fast Fourier Transformation, (2) Car...

PURPOSE To determine cumulative incidence and predictors of new-onset seizures in mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) with a cohort followed prospectively. Limited information is available on the incidence of seizures, and no reports exist of seizure predictors in AD patients. METHODS Mild AD patients were prospectively followed at 6-month intervals to estimate incidence of unprovoked seizures, com...

This review focuses on the latest knowledge and understanding of febrile seizures and outlines the more important issues in the management of children who present with an apparent "febrile seizure". It is not the remit of this paper to discuss the detailed management of febrile seizures. Throughout this review, the words "partial" and "focal" will be used interchangeably and the term "febrile s...

Genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) is characterized by childhood-onset epilepsy syndrome. It involves febrile seizures and a variety of afebrile epileptic seizure types within the same pedigree with autosomal-dominant inheritance. Approximately 10% of individuals with GEFS+ harbor SCN1A, a gene mutation in one of the voltage-gated sodium channel subunits. Considerably less comm...