Surgery of temporal lobe epilepsy is the best opportunity for seizure freedom in medically intractable patients. The surgical approach has evolved to recognize the paramount importance of the mesial temporal structures in the majority of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy who have a seizure origin in the mesial temporal structures. For those individuals with medically intractable mesial tempo...

To better define the efficacy and tolerability of the new anticonvulsant topiramate in pediatric patients, the clinical courses of 49 children with intractable seizures were monitored during topiramate therapy. The 80% of children who had complex partial seizures experienced better seizure control with topiramate than the 20% who had generalized seizures. Efficacy was greatest with doses betwee...

We report a case of an infantile hemiplegia seizure syndrome (IHSS) that presented with intractable reflex audiogenic startle epilepsy which in itself is an uncommon form of seizure disorder. Peri-insular hemispherotomy provided complete seizure control. Also of particular interest was that this syndrome resulted from an iatrogenic brain injury sustained during the course of a caesarian section...

OBJECTIVE Oligoastrocytomas (OA) are mixed gliomas with distinct oligodendroglial and astrocytic neoplastic components. Very little about OA has been reported in the intractable epilepsy population. METHODS We undertook a retrospective review of 923 patients who underwent resective surgery for intractable epilepsy between 1996 and 2004. RESULTS 6/923 (0.7%) patients were diagnosed with OA. ...

Mutations, exclusively missense, of voltage-gated sodium channel alpha subunit type 1 (SCN1A) and type 2 (SCN2A) genes were reported in patients with idiopathic epilepsy: generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus. Nonsense and frameshift mutations of SCN1A, by contrast, were identified in intractable epilepsy: severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (SMEI). Here we describe a first nonsense ...

This research analyzed the clinical notes of epilepsy patients using techniques from corpus linguistics and machine learning and predicted which patients are candidates for neurosurgery, i.e. have intractable epilepsy, and which are not. Information-theoretic and machine learning techniques are used to determine whether and how sets of clinic notes from patients with intractable and nonintracta...

This research analyzed the clinical notes of epilepsy patients using techniques from corpus linguistics and machine learning and predicted which patients are candidates for neurosurgery, i.e. have intractable epilepsy, and which are not. Information-theoretic and machine learning techniques are used to determine whether and how sets of clinic notes from patients with intractable and nonintracta...

The presence of hyaline eosinophilic inclusions in protoplasmic astrocytes of cerebral cortex is a rare finding that is mostly associated with history of intractable epilepsy and cases of Aicardi syndrome. Here, we describe a 17-year-old male who presented with a longstanding history of intractable epilepsy. Microscopic examination of the excisional biopsy of the epileptic focus showed hyaline ...

Rasmussen's encephalitis (RE), or chronic focal encephalitis, is a progressive neurologic condition consisting of cognitive regression, hemiparesis, and intractable epilepsy. While the etiology is unknown, evidence supports an autoimmune basis. Although steroids, plasmapheresis, and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) may afford limited benefit, standard of care for pediatric cases typically invo...