Purpose. The only consistent symptom of ring chromosome 20 syndrome (r(20)) is severe, refractory epilepsy often associated with a characteristic, although not pathognomonic, EEG pattern. Patients suffer from severe seizures with accompanying cognitive decline and frequent episodes of nonconvulsive status epilepticus (SE). Other features of this rare disorder, such as dysmorphic changes, mental...

PURPOSE Valproate is an effective wide-spectrum anti-epileptic drug that is also known to be teratogenic. Its administration in epileptic women remains controversial. This report aims to draw more attention to valproate adjustment before and during pregnancy. METHODS We collected medical records of pregnant women with epilepsy at West China Hospital in Chengdu, China who developed status epil...

Status epilepticus refractory to sequential trials of multiple medication is a rare but significant problem in children. We describe stimulus sensitivity arising during the treatment of convulsive status epilepticus in children (stimulus-sensitive burst-spiking in burst-suppression). We reviewed retrospectively clinical and EEG features in six children (three months to ten years), with status e...

This study aimed to determine the etiology, treatment protocol and outcome of convulsive status epilepticus (SE) in children. An institutional treatment protocol using benzodiazepines (diazepam and midazolam) was assessed in a retrospective case study. The treatment protocol (Ege Pediatric Status Epilepticus Protocol or EPSEP) was developed based on an operational definition of pediatric SE acc...

Generalized, tonic-clonic status epilepticus is well recognized as a common neurologic emergency requiring prompt treatment. The diagnosis is usually not difficult, other than for patients with prolonged seizures, who often develop increasingly subtle clinical features (1,2). There also appears to be a consensus among physicians regarding treatment (3). Nonetheless, there is a major, persistent...

Hemimegalencephaly (HME) is a rare disorder of cortical development with overgrowth of one cerebral hemisphere. Patients have intellectual delay, hemiparesis and severe epilepsy. Drug-resistant epilepsy is often treated with a hemispherectomy. We review the literature on HME natural history and report a 26-year-old man with HME who did not undergo hemispherectomy in childhood with recurrent foc...