ObjectiveTo observe the efficacy and safety of lacosamide (LCM) as a monotherapy or as an add-on in the treatment of focal epilepsy in children aged 4 months to 4 years. MethodsThe study included 20 children with focal epilepsy who received oral LCM monotherapy or add-on therapy in Children's Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University from March 2022 to September 2022, including 9 males and 11 females with an average age of (22.4±13.0) months. The curative effects and adverse reactions at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 months after LCM treatment were analyzed. The initial dose of LCM was 2 mg/(kg·d) and increased by 2 mg/(kg·d) every week, maintenance dose 6 ~ 12mg/(kg·d). Results During the follow-up period of this study, the total effective cases were 17 (85.00%), and the number of control-free cases was 15 (75.00%). Conclusion LCM can effectively reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures in the monotherapy or add-on treatment of infants and young children with focal epilepsy, with few adverse reactions and high retention rate, which has high clinical application value.
According to their seizure patterns and EEG findings, status epilepticus can be divided into convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) and nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE). Patients with NCSE have well-established EEG abnormalities without typical convulsive convulsions and only altered mental status or mild motor symptoms. Due to its atypical clinical symptoms, NCSE is prone to delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, or missed diagnosis, resulting in irreversible brain tissue damage, severe impairment of consciousness, function, and behavior, and even death in NCSE patients. It is of great significance to actively prevent seizures, identify symptoms early, and standardize treatment to improve the prognosis of NCSE patients. At present, there is no relevant standard and consensus on NCSE diagnosis and care. Here, we reported a patient with NCSE who admitted to the Epilepsy Center of Beijing Tiantan Hospital on June 21, 2024. After precise treatment and nursing, the patient's symptoms were well controlled, his condition was stable, and he was followed up for 1 month after discharge, and the prognosis was good. This case report aimed to provide some clinical suggestions to related disease.
Objective To explore the efficacy and safety of Perampanel (PER) monotherapy in children with focal epilepsy. Methods Forty-six children with focal epilepsy who were newly diagnosed in the Department of Neurology of Wuxi Children's Hospital and had not used anti-seizure medications during January 2021 to June 2022 were selected, including 24 males and 22 females, with an average age of (7.2 ± 2.4) years old. Mono-therapy of PER as the PER group (23 cases), mono-therapy of Levetiracetam (LEV) as the LEV group (23 cases). Compare the clinical efficacy and adverse reactions between the two groups. Result The total effective rate was 87.0% (20/23) in PER group and 73.9% (17/23) in LEV group after 3 months of treatment (P<0.05); the total effective rate in the PER group was 78.3% (18/23), and 60.9% (14/23) in the LEV group after 6 months of treatment (P<0.05). The differences were statistically significant. In the PER group, 2 children had adverse reactions, 1 case was lethargic, and 1 case was dizziness. By temporarily reducing the drug dose and slowing the rate of dosing, the adverse reactions disappeared. In LEV group, 3 children had adverse reactions, all of who were irritable in varying degrees. By slowing down the rate of drug addition, 2 children’s symptoms disappeared and 1 child's symptoms relieved during 3 ~ 6 months. Conclusion The new anti-seizure medication — PER has a better anti-epileptic effect on focal epilepsy, which is better than LEV. The adverse reactions of both drugs are less and mild, and can be selected according to clinical conditions.
ObjectiveThrough neuropsychological assessment, explore the factors that may cause cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy.MethodsCollected 53 epilepsy patients in outpatients and inpatients of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from March 2016 to January 2020, including 25 males and 28 females, with an average age of (23.58±13.24) years old, and the course of disease (6.49±7.39), all met the 2017 ILEA diagnostic criteria for focal epilepsy, and there was no history of progressive brain disease or brain surgery. Carry out relevant cognitive assessments for the enrolled patients, use SPSS statistical software to conduct Spearman correlation analysis on the cognitive functions of the study subjects, and further analyze the related factors of cognition through Logistic regression analysis to clarify the factors related to cognition whether it may be a risk factor for cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy.Results Spearman correlation analysis showed that the FIQ of patients with focal epilepsy was related to education level, age of onset, seizure pattern, total number of seizures, AEDs and EEG interval discharge side (P<0.05). Binary Logistic regression analysis shows that among all cognitive-related factors, only the number of AEDs (P=0.003) and EEG interval discharge (P=0.013) are the risk of cognitive impairment in patients with focal epilepsy factor.ConclusionIn the clinical treatment of epilepsy, seizures should be actively controlled, but the types of drugs should be minimized. When there are more than 3 kinds of drugs, surgical treatment or other non-surgical treatments can be considered. At the same time, the EEG should be reviewed regularly to understand the changes in epileptiform discharges between episodes.