At present, there are few studies on patients with epilepsy (PWE) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the results of many studies are inconsistent. SARS-CoV-2 may cause new seizures through a variety of mechanisms, and the susceptibility and mortality of PWE to SARS-CoV-2 remains controversial. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, anxiety, depression and other psychological problems were common among epileptic patients. Clinicians providing telemedicine, telephone chat and video call can effectively reduce the risk of psychological disorders in PWE patients. At the same time, there are many interactions between antiepileptic drugs and various antiviral drugs, which should be carefully considered when using. Considering that the research results are few and many studies contradict each other, PWE and SARS-CoV-2 deserve further exploration in future studies.
ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy and safety of the phase Ⅰ corpus callosotomy in the treatment of adult refractory epilepsy. MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of 56 adults with intractable epilepsy in Tangdu Hospital from January 2011 to July 2016.All patients were treated for the phase Ⅰ total corpus callosotomy, followed up 1~5 years after surgery. Results14 cases (25.0%) patients achieved complete seizure free after surgery, 19 cases (33.9%) whose seizures reduced more than 90%, 10 cases (17.9%) reduced between 50%~90%, 7 cases (12.5%) between 30%~50%, 6 cases (10.7%) decreased below 30%; Drop attacks of 47 cases (83.9%) patients disappeared. Postoperative complications occurred in 13 cases(23.2%), and most of them recovered well. 5 cases(8.9%) had long-term sensory disassociation, no serious complications and death. The percentage of patients reporting improvement in quality of life was 67.9%. ConclusionsFor patients with intractable epilepsy who can not undergo focal resection, Ⅰ phase total corpus callosotomy has a certain effect on reducing seizure frequency, eliminating drop attacks, and improving the quality of life.
ObjectiveTo analyze the clinical data of 5 cases of congenital hyperinsulinemia with sizures as the initial symptoms. MethodsRisk factors in perinatal period, clinical manifestation, laboratory examination, treatment and follow-up visits of 5 cases of congenital hyperinsulinemia with sizures as the initial symptoms were analyzed retrospectively, who were admitted to Department of Neurology of Jiangxi Children's Hospital from July 2012 to August 2016. Results5 children were all male. The onset time varied from 3 to 9 mouths old. All the cases presented seizures as the main clinical manifestations, persistent hypoglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, low free fatty acid and hypoketonemia. During follow-up, treatment with diazoxide and dietary therapy was effective in 3 cases, pure dietary therapy ineffective in 2 cases. 3 cases manifested as acute symptomic seizures, 2 cases as remote symptomic epilepsy. During follow-up, 1 cases showed normal intelligence, 3 cases developmental delay, and 1 case dropout. ConclusionMost of the infants with congenital hyperinsulinemia presented seizures as initial symptoms. Severe hypoglycemia and long duration would damage brain, and early management may significantly improve the prognosis. The early diagnosis can be made by measuring fasting blood glucose, insulin, free fatty acid and, plasma β-hydroxybutyric acid, C peptide and so on. The majority of children were effective by diazoxide.
Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of patients with combined use of ≥2 kinds of anti-seizure medications in Tibetan plateau. Methods Epilepsy patients who were hospitalized in the People’s Hospital of Tibet Autonomous Region from September 2018 to September 2023 and used ≥2 kinds of anti-seizure medications in combination were selected. Their demographic data such as gender, age, and ethnicity, as well as diagnostic information, medication and other clinical data were collected, and relevant demographic and clinical characteristics were analyzed. In the later stage, telephone follow-up was used to record medication and epileptic seizure control. Results A total of 2295 patients with epilepsy were included, of which 142 (6.2%) met the inclusion criteria, of which 133 (93.7%) were Tibetans. There were more males than females (86 vs. 56, P<0.05), and more minors and young patients than middle-aged and elderly patients (106 vs. 36, P<0.05). 87.3% of the patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT), and 71.1% of the patients were abnormal. The main cause of epilepsy was structural etiology (84/142, 59.2%). The most common combination was two drugs (127/142, 89.4%). The largest proportion of combination was sodium valproate and levetiracetam (46/142, 32.4%). After standardized multi-drug combination therapy, the average frequency of epilepsy seizures was significantly reduced compared with the baseline, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Among the 98 patients aged ≥14 years, 15 cases (15.3%) had drug-refractory epilepsy, 18 cases (18.4%) had seizures controlled by standardized combination medication, 16 cases (16.3%) had seizures controlled by reducing combination medication to a single drug, 5 cases (5.1%) had good control and had stopped medication, 3 cases (3.1%) had frequent epileptic seizures due to poor medication compliance, 15 cases (15.3%) had irregular medication, 17 cases (17.3%) died, and 9 cases (9.2%) were lost. Conclusion The proportion of epilepsy treated with multiple drugs and refractory to drugs was lower than the conclusion of previous studies, and the anti-epileptic effect of multiple drugs was positive. Structural causes (stroke, etc.) are the main causes of epilepsy, and brain parasitic infection is a unique factor of high-altitude epilepsy. Strengthening the standardized use of drugs will help improve the treatment status and prognosis of patients.
Homocysteine is an intermediate product of methionine and cysteine metabolism, and plays a key role in methylation. Epilepsy is one of the common diseases of the nervous system, long-term repeated seizures will not only cause damage to the brain tissue, but also cause cognitive impairment. At present, the clinical treatment for epilepsy is still mainly to control symptoms, the fundamental etiology of epilepsy still needs to be improved, to explore the etiology of seizures, fundamentally control seizures, is still our long-term struggle direction. High homocysteine is associated with many diseases. Epidemiological studies have shown that the serum homocysteine level of 10% ~ 40% of epilepsy patients is higher than that of the normal population. By exploring the relationship between serum Hcy and epilepsy,We expect to provide help for the diagnosis and treatment of clinical epilepsy.