ObjectiveTo determine the outcome of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) withdrawal in patients who had been seizure-free for more than two years. MethodsPatients with epilepsy who had been seizure-free for at least two years and decided to stop AEDs therapy gradually were checked on every two months for seizure relapse. The inclusion criteria were:①diagnosis of epilepsy, defined as at least two unprovoked seizures at least 24 hours apart; ②patients remained seizure-free for at least 24 consecutive months during AEDs therapy; ③patients expressed a desire to discontinue AEDs therapy gradually and agreed to return for regular follow-ups; and④electroencephalogram (EEG) showed no epileptic discharge. The time to a seizure relapse and predictive factors were analyzed by survival methods, including sex; age at seizure onset; number of episodes; seizure-free period before AEDs withdrawal; duration of follow-up after AEDs withdrawal; AEDs tapering off period (taper period); results from brain MRI; EEG before seizure-free; EEG before drug withdrawal; seizure type (classified as generalized, partial, or multiple types based on history); the number of AEDs administered for long-term seizure control. A log-rank test was used for univariate analysis, and a Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis. ResultsSixty-eight patients (39 male, 29 female) were admithed. The relapsed rate was 23.5%. Univariate analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that multiple AEDs, hippocampal sclerosis and withdrawal time were significantly correlated with seizure recurrence and those were significant independent predictive factors, with hazard ratio were 0.861, 2.223 and 2.137 respectively. ConclusionsThe relapsed rate in our study was similar to other studies. Distinguishing variables, such as multiple AEDs, hippocampal sclerosis and withdrawal time, need to be considered when decide to withdraw. Therefore, our recommendation is that after two years of being seizure-free, patients could consider withdrawal unless they are hippocampal sclerosis patients.
ObjectiveTo study the cytokine changes in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) patients, and the mechanism of the development of hippocampal sclerosis. MethodsFifty MTLE patients who sought treatment from January 2013 to March 2014 were included in the study. Clinical features were investigated. All CSF samples of the 59 patients along with 19 samples of the control group were tested for 12 common cytokines using a chemokine magnetic bead panel. Data were statistically analyzed. ResultsClinical features showed no significant difference between hippocampal sclerosis and non-hippocampal sclerosis patients. Interleukin (IL)-1 receptor antagonist (RA), IL-4 and IL-9 expression decreased, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-3 and IL-5 expression increased. Up-regulation of TNF-α was significantly different between hippocampal sclerosis and non-hippocampal sclerosis patients. ConclusionIL-1RA, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5 and IL-9 changes may be non-specific seizure-related cytokine regulation. TNF-α is associated with hippocampal sclerosis pathology. TNF-α is a possible pathological element in hippocampal sclerosis development.
ObjectiveTo explore the clinical features and surgical treatment effects of the temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.MethodsForty two patients diagnosed as temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis and underwent protemporal lobectomy in Wuhan Brain Hospital from Jan. 2012 to Dec. 2018 were collected, which included 30 males and 12 females, with the age between 9 to 60 years. Their disease duration ranged from 3 to 10 years. The clinical manifestations showed complex partial seizure in 18 cases, partial-secondary –generalized seizure in 4 cases, and generalized tonic-clonic seizure in 20 cases. Based on their results of clinical manifestations, combined with MRI and VEEG results, all the patients underwent anterior temporal lobectomy (including the most parts of the hippocampus and amydala).ResultsThe postoperative pathology confirmed the diagnosis of hippocampal sclerosis. The follow-up of more than 1 year showed seizure-free in 38 cases, and significant improvement in 4 cases.ConclusionsTo the patients of temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis, anterior temporal lobectomy should be performed (including the most parts of the hippocampus and amydala) if the VEEG monitoring results show that there are epileptic discharges in the ipsilateral temporal lobe. And the postoperative curative result is satisfactory.
Objective To identify the most consistent and replicable characteristics of altered spontaneous brain activity in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy patients with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS). Methods A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and CQVIP databases, to identify eligible whole-brain resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that had measured differences in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations or fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations between patients with MTLE-HS and healthy controls from January 2000 to January 2019. After literature screening and data extraction, Anisotropic Effect-Size Signed Differential Mapping software was used for voxel based pooled meta-analysis. Results Nine datasets from six studies were finally included, which contained 207 MTLE-HS patients and 239 healthy controls. The results demonstrated that, compared with the healthy controls, the MTLE-HS patients showed increased spontaneous brain activity in right hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, left cingulate gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, and right inferior temporal gyrus; while decreased spontaneous brain activity in left superior frontal gyrus, right angular gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, left precuneus, and right cerebellum (P<0.005, cluster extent≥10). Conclusion The current meta-analysis demonstrates that patients with MTLE-HS show increased spontaneous brain activity in lateral and mesial temporal regions and decreased spontaneous brain activity in default mode network, which preliminarily clarifies the characteristics of altered spontaneous brain activity in patients with MTLE-HS.
ObjectiveTo investigate the status and prognosis effect of surgical operation for Temporal lobe epilepsy.MethodsRetrospective analyses were performed on 24 patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy who were treated by surgery in Zibo Changguo Hospital and had complete clinical and follow-up data, during the period from April 2011 to June 2014. Among them, 14 were male and 10 were female, 16 to 44 years old, the average age was (24.40±6.26) years old, and the average course of disease was (12.50±8.42) years old. The clinical characteristics and prognosis of the patients were analyzed.ResultsAll 24 patients had hippocampal sclerosis and underwent "anterior temporal lobe and medial temporal structural resection". Patients were followed up for 5~7 years, the postoperative epileptic seizure of the patient reached grade Engel Ⅰ in 20 cases (83.3%), grade Engel Ⅱ in 2 cases (8.3%) and grade Engel Ⅳ in 2 cases (8.3%).ConclusionHippocampal sclerosis and cortical dysplasia were common in 24 patients, and the operation controlling intractable epilepsy was better. In order to improve the prognosis of patients, surgical treatment should be carried out as soon as possible.
ObjectiveThe research goal: to study the diagnostic value of T2-flair sequence of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in hippocampal sclerosis. MethodsThe clinical data of 135 patients with epilepsy caused by hippocampal sclerosis in the Epilepsy Center of Tianshui Third People's Hospital from March 2019 to December 2020 were analyzed retrospectively, studying the correlation between the changes of hippocampal sclerosis signal and the frequency of epileptic seizures in MRI T2-flair sequence multi axial scanning. ResultsThere were 109 cases of simple hippocampal sclerosis and 26 cases of hippocampal sclerosis with other lesions, including 8 cases of cavernous hemangioma, 9 cases of traumatic or infectious malacia, 2 cases of focal cortical dysplasia, 1 case of cerebral fissure malformation, 1 case of giant gyrus and 5 cases of perinatal brain injury. MRI features of hippocampal sclerosis were as follows: ① hippocampal volume increased slightly, structure blurred, and T2-flair showed slightly increased hippocampal signal in 15 cases, accounting for 11.11%; ② The hippocampal formation was fuzzy, T2-flair was punctate hyperintense, and the volume did not change in 17 cases (12.59%); ③ Hippocampal pyknosis into small lumps, T2-flair sequence showed high signal in 103 cases, accounting for 76.30%. Statistics showed that there was a correlation between hippocampal sclerosis signal and seizure frequency (χ2=94.94, P<0.05). The higher the hippocampal sclerosis signal, the more the seizure frequency. ConclusionMRI T2-flair sequence multi axial scanning can improve the diagnostic accuracy of hippocampal sclerosis. As the change of hippocampal sclerosis signal becomes more obvious, the trend of seizure frequency increases.
Febrile seizures (FS) are one of the most common neurological disorders in pediatrics, commonly seen in children from three months to five years of age. Most children with FS have a good prognosis, but some febrile convulsions progress to refractory epilepsy (RE). Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder , and refractory epilepsy accounts for approximately one-third of epilepsies. The etiology of refractory epilepsy is currently complex and diverse, and its mechanisms are not fully understood. There are many pathophysiological changes that occur after febrile convulsions, such as inflammatory responses, changes in the blood-brain barrier, and oxidative stress, which can subsequently potentially lead to refractory epilepsy, and inflammation is always in tandem with all physiological changes as the main response. This article focuses on the pathogenesis of refractory epilepsy resulting from post-febrile convulsions.