LE JOURNAL CANADIEN DES SCIENCES NEUROLOGIQUES Epilepsy and Pregnancy

Oh data, where are ye? Using administrative databases in epilepsy research.

Temporal lobe epilepsy surgery in childhood: rationale for greater use.

Anterior temporal resection may effectively relieve therapy-resistant seizures in children and give social, psychological and economic benefits. Epidemiological and prognostic data demonstrate that this is an under-utilised procedure: although an estimated 677 Ontario children per year would be candidates for anterior temporal resection, only 18 were performed in a 12 month period.

Pathological laughter following intravenous sodium valproate.

BACKGROUND Pathological laughter can be a sign of epilepsy, psychiatric illness, effect of toxins or psychotropic drugs or of structural brain disease. METHOD Case Studies. RESULT Two patients developed inappropriate uncontrollable laughter following intravenous sodium valproate for treatment of epilepsy. CONCLUSION Pathological laughter can be a side effect of intravenous sodium valproate.

Myasthenia gravis associated with diphenylhydantoin therapy for epilepsy.

A young woman with epilepsy developed myasthenic symptoms while taking diphenylhydantoin. The clinical, electromyographic and pharmacologic findings were consistent with myasthenia gravis. Symptoms of myasthenia ceased on withdrawal of the drug, and recurred on readministration, with little apparent relationship to serum phenytoin levels. This unusual effect is discussed with reference to the k...

Epilepsy and pregnancy.

The management of the pregnant epileptic requires close cooperation between the neurologist and obstetrician. To prevent complications, knowledge is required about the natural history of epilepsy during pregnancy, the possible teratogenic effects of antiepileptic drugs, and changes in their absorption, biotransformation, and excretion. Close plasma antiepileptic drug monitoring is required beca...

Natural history of absence epilepsy in children.

Absence seizures may be seen in a variety of epileptic syndromes in childhood. Identification of the specific syndrome is important to determine medical prognosis. With childhood absence epilepsy, approximately two thirds of children can be expected to enter long-term remission, while in juvenile absence epilepsy, seizure control is often achieved, however, lifelong treatment is usually require...