Commentary The potassium channels expressed from the KCNQ genes are standouts for epileptologists, in that they are both mutated in human epilepsy and principal targets of an approved antiepileptic drug (ezogabine/retigabine) (1, 2). Mutations in two closely related subunits, KCNQ2 or KCNQ3, cause benign familial neonatal seizures (BFNS), an autosomal dominant syndrome characterized by seizures...

Seizures are very frequent in neonatal period. A seizure is an abrupt alteration in neurological function of the newborn and it can be due to many different causes. There are new pathogenetic hypothesis that try to clarify the mechanism of neonatal sizures. Leaving aside new four classical types of neonatal seizures (subtle, clonic, tonic, myoclonic), new clinical forms have been recently ident...

Structured online surveys were used to explore the experiences of the parents of children with refractory epilepsy using medicinal cannabis in Mexico during September 2016. The surveys, which were completed in full, were reviewed, and 53 cases of children aged between 9 months and 18 years were identified. Of these, 43 cases (82%) were from Mexico and 10 (18%) were from Latin American countries...

Ohtahara syndrome (OS) is a rare epileptic encephalopathy that is characterized by an abnormal electroencephalogram (EEG) and intractable seizures in the neonatal and early infantile period. The patient of this reported case was delivered normally at 39 weeks of gestation without any complication. One week after birth, seizures that were refractory to anticonvulsants started with repetitive clu...

Drug resistance is a feature of different forms of epilepsy or epileptic syndromes. It is defined as the persistence of unacceptable seizures despite reasonable pharmacotherapy and drug use to the highest tolerable dosage. It affects between 20% and 30% of patients with epilepsy overall (1). In subgroups of epilepsy patients, a particularly high incidence of drug resistance is encountered (e.g....