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Scientists screening the DNA of large cohorts for known and suspected epilepsy associated genes are finding that, while some genes are implicated in discrete phenotypes or forms of epilepsy, other genes are implicated in a wider range of phenotypes. Although ion channel genes are a common cause of epilepsy, the researchers also report a significant number of epilepsy patients with mutations in non-ion channel genes. The studies have important implications for treatment, prognosis and risk counseling.

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Patients with epilepsy often undergo evaluation by concurrent video and EEG monitoring (vEEG) for therapeutic planning, including possible epilepsy surgery. Seizures during monitoring increase the diagnostic yield and requires the withdrawal of anticonvulsant drugs (AEDs) to allow seizures to occur. A frequently asked question in clinical practice concerns the safety and long-term effect of AED withdrawal or discontinuation in this diagnostic procedure.

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Surgery for drug–resistant epilepsy is performed with the dual aim of obtaining seizure freedom and potential for reducing or discontinuing anticonvulsant drugs (AEDs). Most epilepsy patients become seizure free with surgery. But there are no criteria for the timing of AED withdrawal following the procedure, and the long-term effect of post-operative AED withdrawal is unclear.

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MRI-Guided Stereotactic Laser Ablation (SLA) of the hippocampus to control seizures in people with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) may result in seizure control that approaches that from anterior temporal lobectory or selective amygdalohippocampectomy and better cognitive outcomes than any of the standard open resections, according to a study presented at the American Epilepsy Society’s 67th Annual Meeting in Washington DC. If the SLA continues to prove safe and shows adequate efficacy for seizure control, the technique has the potential to drastically change brain surgery.

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MRI-Guided Stereotactic Laser Ablation (SLA) of the hippocampus to control seizures in people with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) may result in seizure control that approaches that from anterior temporal lobectory or selective amygdalohippocampectomy and better cognitive outcomes than any of the standard open resections, according to a study presented at the American Epilepsy Society’s 67th Annual Meeting in Washington DC. If the SLA continues to prove safe and shows adequate efficacy for seizure control, the technique has the potential to drastically change brain surgery.

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Researchers present the findings from a 2-year multicenter randomized double blinded controlled clinical study and a 7 year long-term treatment study of the NeuroPace RNS System at the American Epilepsy Society’s 67th Annual Meeting. The RNS System is a novel, implantable therapeutic device that delivers responsive neurostimulation, an advanced technology designed to detect abnormal electrical activity in the brain and respond by delivering imperceptible levels of electrical stimulation to normalize brain activity before an individual experiences seizures. NeuroPace received pre-market approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November.

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Epilepsy surgery is a very effective intervention for patients with treatment resistant epilepsy. The most successful and most common epilepsy surgery is temporal lobectomy, which produces seizure freedom in approximately two-thirds of patients. The strongest candidates for this type of surgery are those who have had treatment resistant epilepsy which includes 30-40 percent of all epilepsy cases. Even with this clear benefit, epilepsy specialists today reported at the Presidential Symposia during the American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting, that the overall number of surgeries in adults, as well as the number of temporal lobectomies, has decreased from their peaks.

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Nihon Kohden America Inc. announces the close of its unique auction of a new EEG-1200A Diagnostic and Monitoring system. The winning bid came from Mary Washington Healthcare. Nihon Kohden will now contribute 100 percent of the auction proceeds to the American Epilepsy Society’s (AES) research and training programs

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The American Epilepsy Society (AES) and the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC) is pleased to announce a free online continuing medical education series “Safety in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit.”

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The American Epilepsy Society (AES) has announced that registration is now open for its 67th Annual Meeting, December 6 – 10, 2013, at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center.

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Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders among people with epilepsy. A review of studies shows that between 32% and 48% of people suffer from depression, impacting quality of life and family functioning more even than seizure frequency.

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In the first study of its kind, researchers from five institutions from the UK and U.S. collaborating to determine the long-term outcomes of children with epilepsy found that outcomes varied despite similar short-term morbidity among the originally surveyed children when they were followed up within 10 years post-occurrence.

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A pilot study to determine the best hormonal treatment for infantile spasms (IS) that may lead to changes in prescribing practices for hormone therapy is being presented for the first time at the American Epilepsy Society’s 66th Annual Meeting in San Diego California.

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Scientists from Southern Illinois University today reported the results of a study evaluating the potential effect of two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressant medications in reducing the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). In a report presented at the American Epilepsy Society’s 66th Annual Meeting, the research team found that certain SSRI medications in the study failed to achieve the same selectivity for prevention of SUDEP as fluoxetine, an SSRI they had previously investigated.

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Epilepsy and depression are common co-morbidities. Concern for the potential of certain antidepressants to induce seizures has led to under-treating depression and anxiety disorders in epilepsy patients. Research presented today at the 66th American Epilepsy Society meeting suggests that antidepressants in normal dosage may have a positive impact on both mood and seizure frequency.

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Many epilepsy patients believe that stress is a factor in their seizure control, while many other epilepsy patients do not have this perception. To better understand the potential role of stress among these patients, researchers in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati conducted a functional neuroimaging study of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy under imposed psychosocial stress.

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A survey of healthcare providers concerning the initial diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy presented today at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 66th Annual Meeting has found significant misinformation held among physicians who see children who have seizures. Many physicians surveyed are misinformed about what constitutes intractable epilepsy, when to refer their pediatric patients for surgical evaluation, and what types of seizures may be amenable to surgical intervention.

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A behavioral test widely used on rodents to study spatial learning and memory, the Morris water maze (MWM), was recreated using software developed to create custom video game environments. By creating a virtual reality analogue for humans, it was possible to obtain a direct comparison between the results of studies on a rodent model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), whose spatial memory performance was found to be severely impaired, and patients with TLE.

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Surveys of healthcare providers in the U.S. and Canada have found wide variability in practices concerning discussion with patients and caregivers about Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), as well as a lack of awareness among some providers of the relative risk for SUDEP in children who have epilepsy. Results of these surveys support the need for SUDEP education and the creation of practice guidelines to encourage SUDEP discussion and assist providers in counseling families about this tragic, though rare, epilepsy outcome.

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A developing new laser surgical technique for epilepsy appears to be safe and effective and reduces hospital stays to one or two days, according to two research reports presented today during the American Epilepsy Society 66th Annual Meting at the San Diego Convention Center. Both studies were conducted on pediatric patients with refractory focal seizures. Investigators reported the laser technique which requires only a small scalp incision and twist drill hole in the skull to be more precise and with fewer complications than conventional resective surgery. The laser system is already FDA cleared for neurosurgery.

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The results of the first reported study of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in an animal model for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) presented today at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 66th Annual Meeting suggests that DBS may have potential as therapy for this common and often difficult to treat form of epilepsy. A team of investigators at Ghent University, Belgium, and the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, found that long-term hippocampal DBS has a strong effect in reducing seizures in the experimental model.

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The long-term benefits of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for epilepsy in the SANTE trial (Stimulation of the Anterior Nucleus of Thalamus for Epilepsy) were reported today during the 66th annual scientific meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES). Of patients with at least five-years stimulation, more than two-thirds experienced sustained efficacy and continuous reduction in their seizures. All of the patients had a long history of epilepsy and had tried and failed most other epilepsy treatment options before entering the trial.

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One of the largest studies examining disparities of care ever to be conducted in a developed country, involving almost 200,000 adults with epilepsy will be presented for the first time at the American Epilepsy Society’s 66th Annual Meeting in San Diego California. While there have been studies that have examined the impact of individual factors such as age, income level, and race, this retrospective study is the first to investigate the impact of epilepsy on a whole community, taking in to account the socioeconomic status of a neighborhood and its health system resources.

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Neuroscientists from Japan’s Yamaguchi University today reported that chronic focal brain cooling suppresses seizures during wakefulness and achieves the effect without significantly affecting brain function. Their research, and that of others in the field, provides critical evidence that this approach to seizure control has reached a stage where testing in humans will soon be possible.

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Bruce P. Hermann, Ph.D., professor of neurology and director of the Charles Matthews Neuropsychology Lab at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, has been named recipient of the American Epilepsy Society’s (AES) 2012 Service Award. Throughout his career Dr. Hermann has worked to improve the understanding, treatment, and prevention of adverse behavioral and quality of life outcomes of epilepsy and epilepsy surgery in children and adults.

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Renzo Guerrini, M.D., Director and Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, University of Florence, Anna Meyer Children’s Hospital, Italy, has been named recipient of the 2012 Epilepsy Research Recognition Award for Clinical Science conferred by the American Epilepsy Society (AES). The award recognizes Dr. Guerrini for his outstanding contributions land productivity over the past two decades in the study of genetic and developmental causes of epilepsy.

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The American Epilepsy Society (AES) has announced that David C. Taylor, lately Head of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Manchester, UK, and a pioneering child psychiatrist, has been named recipient of The William G. Lennox—Cesare T. Lombroso Award for 2012. The award recognizes Dr. Taylor for his extraordinary influence and seminal research on the social, economic, and psychological effects of epilepsy surgery on patients with medically refractory seizures.

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The American Epilepsy Society (AES) has announced that Warren T. Blume. M.D., FRCP(C), Neurology Professor Emeritus at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, has been named recipient of the AES 2012 J. Kiffin Penry Excellence in Epilepsy Care Award. The award recognizes Dr. Blume for his contributions as an early founder and organizer of specialized treatment and professional education programs in Canada. He is an expert in neurophysiology, author of the first atlases on adult and pediatric electroencephalography (EEG), and organizer of the first Canadian EEG examination system.

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Richard Miles, Ph.D., Research Director, French National Center for Scientific Research, and Group Leader, Cortex and Epilepsy, Institute for the Brain and Spinal Cord, Centre Hospitalier Universtaire Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris, has been named recipient of the prestigious 2012 Epilepsy Research Recognition Award for Basic Science conferred by the American Epilepsy Society (AES).

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A landmark study from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports that your chance of developing epilepsy at some point in your life is one in 26. Onset is highest in children and older adults. But epilepsy knows no boundaries—it can strike at any age and across all socio-economic levels and ethnicities. There is no known cure and one-third of people with epilepsy have treatment-resistant or refractory epilepsy.

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Institute of Medicine study finds gaps in the nation’s ability to deal with epilepsy prevail in so many spheres that vigorous action is urgently needed to affect change and create a system that will assure accessible, comprehensive, high-quality optimal care for every person who has the condition.

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The Institute of Medicine released a new report, Epilepsy across the spectrum: Promoting Health and Understanding IOM’s review committee findings and recommendations in areas of surveillance, prevention, health care and human services, and education of health care providers, people who have epilepsy, their families and the public. A full-scale evaluation of the health system response to epilepsy such as this has been long overdue.

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Leading representatives of the American Epilepsy Society, American Academy of Neurology, and the Epilepsy Foundation today reported they have grave concerns about the implications and potential misuse of the anticonvulsant (AED) drug comparisons study recently released by the U.S. Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ). The study’s intent is to provide an evidence-based analysis of the Effectiveness and Safety of Antiepileptic Medications in Patients With Epilepsy. But the AHRQ report has little clinical value according to the specialists in neurology and epilepsy and could negatively impact patient care.

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The relative risk of autism spectrum disorder in children of mothers on valproate monotherapy was found to be 2.6 times that of children not exposed to antiepileptic medication in utero. The risk of childhood autism was almost five-fold increased compared to children without prenatal exposure to valproate.

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Researchers in the U.S. and U.K. are conducting an ongoing investigation of the cognitive effect of fetal exposure across four commonly used antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) as part of an NIH-funded Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (NEAD) Study. An early NEAD analysis found that fetal exposure to valproate impairs IQ at age three.

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Investigators at Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, evaluated the potential of giving screening questionnaires to parents of pediatric epilepsy patients seen in an epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) and a ketogenic diet clinic. More than 75% of the children screened positive for developmental delay, 41% of them with autism. Although many of the cases had been previously diagnosed, more than one-third of the children did not have a prior DD or autism diagnosis and were referred for further confirmatory evaluation.

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Epilepsy is common in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A new study indicates their epilepsy is surprisingly photosensitive as well. Since photosensitive epilepsies can be triggered by flickering lights, the self-stimulatory behavior of ASD children, such as hand flapping in front of the face, has the potential to dramatically increase the risk of inducing photosensitive seizures.

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Anecdotal evidence suggests that the hypothalamus, a structure lying deep within the brain may be involved in generating laughter. Gelastic epilepsy, a rare condition characterized by laughing seizures, is commonly the result of a congenital brain lesion (called hamartoma) within the hypothalamus. Researchers seeking to identify the specific site (nuclei) within the hypothalamus that might be involved in expressing laughter reported their findings at the American Epilepsy Society’s 65th annual meeting.

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Neurosurgeons continue to explore minimally invasive surgery with gamma radiation (gamma knife surgery / GKS) in the treatment of brain lesions causing seizures and epilepsy. Studies of the procedure are showing it to be an effective alternative to invasive microsurgery for hypothalamic hamartomas and other lesions that lie deep within the brain.

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Certain visual patterns and flashing images can provoke seizures in susceptible individuals, particularly among children and adolescents. Some media reports on the recent introduction of 3D-television sets suggest that this new technology may cause seizures in some viewers. Children who have epilepsy are somewhat more vulnerable to the provocative stimuli than their peers. But there has been no systematic examination of the potential effects 3D-TV may have on patients with epilepsy.

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Epilepsy surgery is safe, effective and often curative in selected candidates. Although candidates for epilepsy surgery in the United States are estimated between 100,000 and 200,000, fewer than 5,000 such surgeries are conducted each year. The cause of this disparity is multi-factorial, including an unexplained low level of referrals by physicians and choices made by patients themselves. Two studies investigating why patients choose to defer or forego epilepsy surgery.

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Bromide is not FDA-approved for use in the United States. But it is among anticonvulsants available in Germany and other European countries. Research reported today at the American Epilepsy Society’s 65th annual meeting by investigators from Germany suggests that bromide may have promise in treating patients with SCN1A-associated Dravet syndrome with intractable seizures.

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Scientists investigating the fundamental cause of Dravet syndrome, a severe childhood epilepsy, have reprogrammed fibroblasts, a type of skin cell, from Dravet patients and generated patient-specific neurons. Further study revealed that these patient-derived neurons showed increased excitability, abnormal neuronal behavior that can produce seizures.

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Dravet syndrome is a severe genetic epilepsy that appears early in life. About 75 percent of cases can be attributed to mutations in the SCN1A gene encoding the sodium channel NaV1.1. The remaining patients with this syndrome are without a definitive molecular genetic diagnosis. Research presented today at the American Epilepsy Society’s 65th Annual Meeting has found a non-SCN1A candidate gene and suggests that Dravet syndrome may be caused by any one of a number of yet unidentified genes.

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Seizures in women of childbearing age commonly show patterns of exacerbation that involve hormones as a factor. Investigators today reported the favorable outcome of a multicenter randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled phase III clinical trial of progesterone therapy in reducing these perimenstrually exacerbated (catamenial) seizures. Results of the NIH-sponsored study are being presented during the American Epilepsy Society’s 65th annual meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center. (Abstract 3.191).

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In women of childbearing age with epilepsy, seizure exacerbation may occur either at the time of menstruation or ovulation. Investigators in a specialized epilepsy center have analyzed the data on a group of patients with seizures associated with their menstrual cycles (catamenial seizures) for type of epilepsy, seizure frequency, response to medication, neuroimaging findings, and seizures during pregnancy. (Abstract 3.168)

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Status epilepticus, prolonged seizures, can lead to significant neurological deficits and, rarely, even death. The anticonvulsant diazepam, a first line therapy for the condition, is neuroprotective when administered in high doses within two hours from seizure onset. Researchers at the 64th AES Annual Meeting now report that the combination of low-dose diazepam and NS-398, a COX-2 inhibitor, has twice the neuroprotective effect of NS-398 alone.

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Epilepsy research is reaching beyond improving the means for quelling symptoms to the exploration of potential modalities for correcting or reversing alterations in neural function that underlay some forms of the disorder. In research reported at the 64th American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting, investigators at the University of Florida have demonstrated that adult human neuronal progenitor cells (AHNPs) generate functional neurons that integrate into host neuronal networks in the cerebral cortex.

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A higher rate of mortality is known to be associated with epilepsy, but the precise contribution of the underlying health factors is unknown. The results from the study of a large cohort of people born in Denmark in 1977 through 2006 were reported today at the American Epilepsy Society meeting here.

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The mortality rate among people with epilepsy is slightly higher than the mortality rate in the general population. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is estimated to account for 8 – 17% of deaths in people with the disorder, with an overall higher incidence of SUDEP in males Less is understood about the gender difference in SUDEP susceptibility associated with specific medications used in treating the condition.