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Objective Epilepsy is a neurologic disease that carries a high disease burden and likely, a huge treatment gap especially in low-to-middle income countries (LMIC) such as the Philippines. This review aimed to examine the treatment gaps and challenges that burden Philippine epilepsy care. Materials & methods Pertinent data on epidemiology, research, health financing and health systems, pharmacologic and surgical treatment options, cost of care, and workforce were obtained through a literature search and review of relevant Philippine government websites. Results The estimated prevalence of epilepsy in the Philippines is 0.9%. Epilepsy research in the Philippines is low in quantity compared with the rest of Southeast Asia (SEA). Inequities in quality and quantity of healthcare services delivered to local government units (LGUs) have arisen because of devolution. Programs for epilepsy care by both government and nongovernment institutions have been implemented. Healthcare expenditure in the Philippines is still largely out-of-pocket, with only partial coverage from the public sector. There is limited access to antiseizure medications (ASMs), mainly due to cost. Epilepsy surgery is an underutilized treatment option. There are only 20 epileptologists in the Philippines, with one epileptologist for every 45,000 patients with epilepsy. In addition, epilepsy care service delivery has been further impeded by the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Conclusion There is a large treatment gap in epilepsy care in the Philippines in terms of high epilepsy disease burden, socioeconomic limitations and inadequate public support, sparse clinico-epidemiologic research on epilepsy, inaccessibility of health care services and essential pharmacotherapy, underutilization of surgical options, and lack of specialists capable of rendering epilepsy care. Acknowledgment of the existence of these treatment gaps and addressing such are expected to improve the overall survival and quality of life of patients with epilepsy in the Philippines.

Highlights • Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) complicates sedation guidance. • Limited frontotemporal encephalogram (EEG) guided sedation in COVID-19 patients. • A quantitative EEG machine learning algorithm classified patients’ sedation depth., Objective To study if limited frontotemporal electroencephalogram (EEG) can guide sedation changes in highly infectious novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients receiving neuromuscular blocking agent. Methods 98 days of continuous frontotemporal EEG from 11 consecutive patients was evaluated daily by an epileptologist to recommend reduction or maintenance of the sedative level. We evaluated the need to increase sedation in the 6 hours following this recommendation. Post-hoc analysis of the quantitative EEG was correlated with the level of sedation using a machine learning algorithm. Results Eleven patients were studied for a total of ninety-eight sedation days. EEG was consistent with excessive sedation on 57 (58%) and adequate sedation on 41 days (42%). Recommendations were followed by the team on 59% (N=58; 19 to reduce and 39 to keep the sedation level). In the 6 hours following reduction in sedation, increases of sedation were needed in 7 (12%). Automatized classification of EEG sedation levels reached 80% (±17%) accuracy. Conclusions Visual inspection of a limited EEG helped sedation depth guidance. In a secondary analysis, our data supported that this determination may be automated using quantitative EEG analysis. Significance Our results support the use of frontotemporal EEG for guiding sedation in patients with COVID-19.

Background Various strategies have been proposed for the treatment of gelastic seizures due to hypothalamic hamartomas (HH), advancing from surgical removal techniques toward functional disconnection strategies. One of the most recent procedure is the Magnetic Resonance guided Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy (MRg-LITT), which has progressively proved to be a safe and effective technique for hamartomas ablation. In this paper, the authors' preliminary experience with the first two patients treated with this technique in Italy is presented, in order to underline the feasibility of a pure non robotized frameless technique (FS MRg-LITT) while confirming the procedure effectiveness on seizure control. Methods Patients undergoing FS MRg-LITT for the treatment of HH related gelastic seizures since January 2020 were included. A two steps procedure was performed by using the neuronavigation system to define the entry point, the trajectories and to assess the accuracy. Visualase Laser Ablation System was then used for the MR guided ablation of the HH. A multidisciplinary (neurosurgeons, epileptologist, neuroradiologist) institutional board evaluated the patients both in the perioperative period and during follow up. Results A total number of 2 pediatric patients were described. The mean operative time resulted to be 6 hours while the mean accuracy was 0.4 mm. No peri-operative complications were reported. The mean length of stay was 4 days. Lastly, at 1-year follow up both patients resulted to be seizure free and endocrinological functions were preserved. Conclusions FS MRg-LITT for the treatment of HH-related epilepsy could represent an effective technique, being able to guarantee adequate level of accuracy and potentially extending the accessibility of MRg-LITT by lowering its costs and simplifying the overall procedure.

In this proof-of-concept investigation, we demonstrate a marker-free video-based method to detect nocturnal motor seizures across a spectrum of motor seizure types, in a nighttime setting with a single adult female with refractory epilepsy. In doing so, we further explore the intermediate biosignals, visually mapping seizure “fingerprints” to seizure types. The method is designed to be flexible enough to generalize to unseen data, and shows promising performance characteristics for low-cost seizure detection and classification. The dataset contained recordings from 27 recorded nights. Seizure events were observed in 22 of these nights, with 36 unequivocally confirmed seizures. Each seizure was classified by an expert epileptologist according to both the ILAE 2017 standard and the Lüders semiological classification guidelines, yielding 5 of the ILAE-recognized seizure types and 7 distinct seizure semiologies. Evaluation was based on inference of motion, oscillation, and sound signals extracted from the recordings. The model architecture consisted of two feature extraction and event determination layers and one thresholding layer, establishing a simple framework for multimodal seizure analysis. Training of the optimal parameters was done by randomly resampling the event hits for each signal, and choosing a threshold that kept an expected 90 % sensitivity for the sample distribution. With the cut-off values selected, statistical performance was calculated for two target seizure groups: those containing a clonic component, and those containing a tonic component. When tuned to 90 % sensitivity, the system achieved a very low false discovery rate of 0.038/hour when targeting seizures with a clonic component, and a clinically-relevant rate of 1.02/hour when targeting seizures with a tonic component. These results indicate a sensitive method for detecting various nocturnal motor seizure types, and a high potential to differentiate motor seizures based on their video and audio signal characteristics. Paired with the low cost of this technique, both cost savings and improved quality of care might be achieved through further development and commercialization of this method. publishedVersion

BACKGROUND: We investigate the case-ascertainment accuracy for potentially active epilepsy of four administrative healthcare datasets used to identify deceased adults in Scotland.METHODS: In this diagnostic accuracy study, unique patient identifiers were used to link administrative healthcare data for adults (aged 16 years and over) who died in Scotland between 01/01/09-01/01/16. Cases were ascertained from linking mortality records, hospital admissions, antiepileptic drug (AED) prescriptions, and primary care attendances. We assessed ICD-10 codes G40 (epilepsy), G41 (status epilepticus), and R56.8 (seizures) listed as causes of death and as hospital admission reasons, various AEDs, and F25 primary care epilepsy Read codes. These epilepsy indicators were searched through 01/01/09-01/01/16, suggesting active epilepsy during a maximal period of seven years before death. They were compared to epilepsy diagnoses made from medical records reviewed by a senior epileptologist, with a second senior epileptologist independently reviewing the medical records in a 10 % sample to check for specialist interrater agreement in epilepsy diagnoses. We validated how accurately epilepsy was identified by each dataset alone and when combined, calculating positive predictive value (PPV) and sensitivity (with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs)).RESULTS: 159,032 deceased potential epilepsy cases were captured across the four datasets. Medical records reviewed in a random sample of 936 confirmed that epilepsy was present in 614 and absent in 322. Specialist interrater diagnostic agreement was substantial (100 medical records reviewed in duplicate, kappa = 0.72, CI 0.58-0.86). G40-41 cause of death codes had a PPV of 86 % (CI 84-89 %) and sensitivity of 73 % (CI 69-76 %). Adding R56.8 lowered PPV to 69 % (CI 65-72 %) and raised sensitivity to 87 % (CI 84-90 %). The optimal algorithm combining two datasets consisted of F25 Read codes paired with AEDs (PPV 86 % (CI 80-92 %), sensitivity 93 % (CI 88-97 %)). Also effective was pairing G40-41 and/or R56.8 cause of death codes with AEDs (PPV 91 % (CI 89-94 %), sensitivity 81 % (CI 77-84 %)). Whilst algorithms combining three datasets raised PPV to as high as 93-95 %, the associated sensitivities were low (71 % at most).CONCLUSIONS: Routinely-collected Scottish data can accurately identify epilepsy in deceased adults. It may be necessary to combine the diagnostic coding used with AEDs to ensure optimal case-ascertainment. The results help inform the design of future Scottish epilepsy mortality studies recruiting from administrative data sources.

Since the publication of the Italian League Against Epilepsy guidelines for the treatment of status epilepticus in 2006, advances in the field have ushered in improvements in the therapeutic arsenal. The present position paper provides neurologists, epileptologists, neurointensive care specialists, and emergency physicians with updated recommendations for the treatment of adult patients with status epilepticus. The aim is to standardize treatment recommendations in the care of this patient population.

Summary Objective To provide a comprehensive transnational overview of wait times for epilepsy surgery in Canada and Mexico. Methods We reviewed all cases referred for epilepsy surgery between 2007 and 2015 at the Saskatchewan Epilepsy Program Royal University Hospital (SEP) (n = 70; Saskatoon, Canada) and the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (NINN) (n = 76; Mexico City, Mexico) and compared wait times, calculated as the time from diagnosis of epilepsy on assessment at an epilepsy center to epilepsy surgery. Results Mean wait times were similar across centers. Mean patient age was 37.4 ± 9 years (NINN) and 36.7 ± 13.2 years (SEP). The mean time from epilepsy diagnosis to referral was 18.9 (NINN) and 16.9 years (SEP), p = 0.30; first consult with the epileptologist, 19.7 (NINN) and 17.4 years (p = 0.23); neuropsychology consult, 21.4 (NINN) and 17.9 years (SEP); video electroencephalogram (video‐EEG) telemetry, 21.1 (NINN) and 18.6 months (SEP); initial neurosurgical consult, 21.9 (NINN) and 19.1 years (SEP) (p = 0.35); and epilepsy surgery, 19.7 (NINN) and 19.6 years (SEP) (p = 0.29). Significance This is the first study to compare wait times between Canada and Mexico. Despite disparity in their health delivery systems and financial resources, surgical wait times appeared to be protracted in both nations, confirming that delayed treatment is a universal problem that requires collaborative scrutiny.

It is well known that there is high quality evidence of epilepsy surgery as an effective and safe option for patients with drug refractory epilepsy by advanced imaging technology and computerized electrophysiological facilities during recent three decades. However, it still remains debate regarding necessities of epilepsy surgery in terms of less satisfactory surgical outcome, especially in non-lesional neocortical epilepsies. This review is for the role of epileptic neurosurgeon rather than the role of epilepsy surgery, namely, the necessity of neurosurgeon's positive participation starting from the first visit of epilepsy patients followed by pertaining process by stages and its degree of contribution. All experienced epilepsy centers also need innovative or challenging trial absolutely through this kind of standpoint, because all of the present protocols and techniques are coming from the past. In any event, the interdepartmental and interpersonal cooperation is inevitable especially for improving patient's quality of life. Serious neurosurgical considerations are needed for patients with intractable epilepsies, especially in referred cases from other center for the purpose of double check, and incongruent cases with contrary opinions by epileptologist.

Following the results of the multicentre European retrospective "TimeToStop" cohort study, we initiated a randomised trial to determine cognitive benefits of early postoperative antiepileptic drug withdrawal. Unfortunately, the trial failed to recruit and was terminated, as almost all parents preferred early drug withdrawal. The objectives of the current survey were to obtain insight into current practices regarding drug withdrawal after paediatric epilepsy surgery among epileptologists, and better understand the reasons for difficulties in recruitment. A survey was sent to three international epilepsy surgery networks, questioning drug withdrawal policies. Forty-seven (19%) surveys were returned. For polytherapy, withdrawal was started at a median of three and six months by the TimeToStop collaborators and other paediatric epileptologists, respectively. Withdrawal was completed at a median of 12 and 20 months, respectively. For monotherapy, tapering was initiated at five and 11 months in these two groups, and ended at a median of seven and 12 months, respectively. Most TimeToStop collaborators believed that it was not justified to wait 12 months after surgery before reducing AEDs, regardless of the number of AEDs taken. Current AED policies in Europe have changed as a consequence of the retrospective TimeToStop results, and this accounts for why recruitment in a randomised trial was not feasible.

Importance Children with benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) have traditionally been considered to have a uniformly good prognosis. However, benign may be a misnomer because BECTS is linked to cognitive deficits, a more severe phenotype with intractable seizures, and the potential for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Objective To determine if cases of BECTS are present in the North American SUDEP Registry (NASR). Design, Setting, and Participants The NASR is a clinical and biospecimen repository established in 2011 to promote SUDEP research. The NASR database, which includes medical records, results of electroencephalographic tests, and interviews with family members of patients with epilepsy who died suddenly without other identifiable causes of death, was queried from June 3, 2011, to June 3, 2016, for cases of BECTS. The patients with epilepsy had died suddenly without other identifiable causes of death (eg, drowning, trauma, exposure to toxic substances, or suicide); SUDEP classification was determined by the consensus of 2 epileptologists. Main Outcomes and Measures Cases of SUDEP among children who received a diagnosis of BECTS among patients reported in the NASR. Results Three boys (median age at death, 12 years; range, 9-13 years) who received a diagnosis of BECTS by their pediatric epileptologist or neurologists were identified among 189 cases reported in the NASR. The median age of epilepsy onset was 5 years (range, 3-11 years), and the median duration of epilepsy was 4 years (range, 1-10 years). Two deaths were definite SUDEP, and 1 was probable SUDEP. Independent review of clinical and electroencephalographic data supported the diagnosis of BECTS in all 3 patients. None of the patients was prescribed antiseizure drugs, either owing to physician recommendation or mutual decision by the physician and parents. All 3 patients were found dead in circumstances typical of SUDEP. The 3 patients spanned the spectrum of BECTS severity: 1 had only a few seizures, 1 had more than 30 focal motor seizures, and 1 had 4 witnessed generalized tonic-clonic seizures and approximately 30 suspected generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Conclusions and Relevance Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy is a very rare outcome in BECTS that clinicians should consider discussing in appropriate circumstances and possibly factoring into treatment decisions.

A multidisciplinary approach is required to understand the complex intricacies of drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). A challenge that neurosurgeons across the world face is accurate localization of epileptogenic zone. A significant number of patients who have undergone resective brain surgery for epilepsy still continue to have seizures. The reason behind this therapy resistance still eludes us. Thus to develop a cure for the difficult to treat epilepsy, we need to comprehensively study epileptogenesis. Till date, most of the studies on DRE is focused on undermining the abnormal functioning of receptors involved in synaptic transmission and reduced levels of antiepileptic drugs around there targets. But recent advances in imaging and electrophysiological techniques have suggested the role epileptogenic networks in the process of epileptogenesis. According to this hypothesis, the local neurons recruit distant neurons through complex oscillatory circuits, which further recruit more distant neurons, thereby generating a hypersynchronus neuronal activity. The epileptogenic networks may be confined to the lesion or could propagate to distant focus. The success of surgery depends on the precision by which the epileptogenic network is determined while planning a surgical intervention. Here, we summarize various modalities of electrophysiological and imaging techniques to determine the functionally active epileptogenic networks. We also review evidence pertaining to the proposed role of epileptogenic network in abnormal synaptic transmission which is one of the major causes of epileptiform activity. Elucidation of current concepts in regulation of synaptic transmission by networks will help develop therapies for epilepsy cases that cannot be managed pharmacologically.

A first seizure is a life-changing event with physical and psychological consequences. We aimed to assess the role of early comprehensive patient care after a first unprovoked seizure to improve diagnostic accuracy and follow-up adherence. From April 2011 to March 2012, patients presenting a first unprovoked epileptic seizure received standard patient care (SPC), i.e., a consultation in the ED, an EEG and a CT scan. The patients were notified of the follow-ups. We compared this protocol to subsequently acquired "early comprehensive patient care" (ECPC), which included a consultation by an epileptologist in the emergency department (ED), a routine or long-term monitoring electroencephalogram (LTM-EEG), magnetic resonance imaging and three follow-up consultations (3 weeks, 3 months, 12 months). 183 patients were included (113 ECPC, 70 SPC). LTM-EEG and MRI were performed in 51 and 85 %, respectively, of the patients in the ECPC group vs in 7 and 52 % of the patients in the SPC group (p

Psychogenic symptoms are pervasive in medicine and are likely underdiagnosed and underreported for 2 reasons: (1) their psychological origin, while often suspected, is usually difficult, and sometimes impossible, to prove; (2) it is safer, at least initially, for both the patient and the doctor to err on the side of organic illness.

Summary Background and purpose Seizure is a frequent reason of admission in emergency department (ED) but little is known about the proportion and the characteristics of known epileptic patients (KEPs) who used emergency services. Methods Over a 12-month period, we prospectively recruited adults admitted for seizure to a tertiary hospital ED. For KEPs, clinical epilepsy features and characteristics of the admission were collected. Results Of the 60,578 ED admissions, 990 were related to seizure; 580 of these admissions concerned 448 different KEPs (257 males; median age: 44); 339 were residents in the health district. Epilepsy was structural/metabolic in 268 (59.8%) patients, genetic in 44 (9.8%) and unknown/undetermined in 136 (30.3%); 218 (48.7%) patients were under a single antiepileptic drug and 135 (30.1%) were followed by an epileptologist. Of the 580 KEP admissions, 440 (75.8%) concerned patients who had called the emergency medical assistance number, 252 (43.4%) with a discharge diagnosis of usual seizure and 43 (7.4%) of a status epilepticus. Half the KEPs were discharged without hospitalization. We estimated that 9.0% of KEPs residing in the district had used the ED during the period. Conclusion Proportion of KEPs using ED is high. Most of the admissions concerned usual seizures suggesting that staff training and educational programmes for patients and for their relatives need to be improved. The organization of the prehospital and of the emergency medical services should also be adjusted to this specific need. Further research should be conducted to optimize the seizure care pathway for KEPs.

Introduction: Electroencephalography (EEG) is indicated for diagnosing nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) in a patient who has altered level of consciousness after a motor seizure. A study in a neonatal population found 94% sensitivity and 78% specificity for detection of seizure using a single-lead device. This study aims to show that a reduced montage EEG would detect 90% of seizures detected on standard EEG. Methods: A portable Brainmaster EEG device was available in the emergency department (ED) at all times. Patients presenting to the ED with altered mental status and known history of seizure or a witnessed seizure having a standard EEG were eligible for this study. The emergency physician obtained informed consent from the legally authorized representative (LAR), while an ED technician attached the electrodes to the patient, and a research associate attached the electrodes to the wiring routing to the portable EEG module. A board-certified epileptologist interpreted the tracings via the Internet. Simultaneously, the emergency physician ordered a standard 23-lead EEG, which would be interpreted by the neurologist on call to read EEGs. We compared the epileptologist’s interpretation of the reduced montage EEG to the results of the 23-lead EEG, which was considered the gold standard for detecting seizures. Results: Twelve of 12 patients or 100% had the same findings on reduced-montage EEG as standard EEG. One of 12 patients or 8% had nonconvulsive seizure activity. Conclusion: The results are consistent with prior studies which have shown that 8-48% of patients who have had a motor seizure continue to have nonconvulsive seizure activity on EEG. This study suggests that a bedside reduced-montage EEG can be used to make the diagnosis of NCSE in the ED. Further study will be conducted to see if this technology can be applied to the inpatient neurological intensive care unit setting. [West J Emerg Med. 2015;16(3):442–446.]

International audience; PURPOSE: We aimed to determine the incidence and case-fatality of first-ever status epilepticus (SE) among the general population living in La Reunion Island, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar. METHODS: We recruited cases (1st July 2004-30th June 2005) in a population-based manner using neurology, neurosurgery, electroencephalogram, emergency, paediatric and neuroradiology services; emergency medical aid service; emergency and admission service of private and public clinics; neurologists (public and private); private paediatricians and practitioners of various rural hospitals. All cases had an electroencephalogram (EEG) and were assessed by an epileptologist. Standard definition and classification schemes were used. Those with known epilepsy were not part of this analysis. RESULTS: Sixty-five cases (males: n=41, 63.1%) had epileptologist-confirmed SE, with 38.5% (n=25) being >60 years of age. Global incidence rate was 8.52/100 000 (95% confidence interval 6.5-10.5). A bimodal age distribution with high frequency and incidence among young (60 years) (frequency: 40.0%; incidence 35.0/100,000) was observed. We found that 60%, 32.3%, 6.7% had convulsive, partial and non-convulsive SE respectively (1% remained unclassified). Of the cases identified, 44.6%, 38.5%, 16.9% had unprovoked, provoked or cryptogenic seizures respectively. The most important aetiological factors identified included: stroke (27.7%), alcoholism/toxicity (18.5%), cryptogenic (16.9%), infections (10.8%). Mortality was 18.5%. CONCLUSION: The incidence of SE incidence in La Reunion Island was lower than that described elsewhere. The status type was found to be dependent on aetiology and age. The study confirms that SE is more frequent in men and in older adults and is associated with significant short-term case mortality.

International audience; In this paper, we present a fast method to extract the sources related to interictal epileptiform state. The method is based on general eigenvalue decomposition using two correlation matrices during: 1) periods including interictal epileptiform discharges (IED) as a reference activation model and 2) periods excluding IEDs or abnormal physiological signals as background activity. After extracting the most similar sources to the reference or IED state, IED regions are estimated by using multiobjective optimization. The method is evaluated using both realistic simulated data and actual intracerebral electroencephalography recordings of patients suffering from focal epilepsy. These patients are seizure-free after the resective surgery. Quantitative comparisons of the proposed IED regions with the visually inspected ictal onset zones by the epileptologist and another method of identification of IED regions reveal good performance.

International audience; In this paper, we aim to identify the regions involved in epilepsy from intracerebral EEG (iEEG) of patients suffering from focal epilepsy. Identification of regions involved in epilepsy is important for presurgery evaluations. The proposed method is based on common spatial pattern (CSP) using two types of time intervals: 1) periods including interictal epileptiform discharges (IED), and 2) periods excluding IEDs or abnormal physiological signals. The method is applied on the iEEG recordings of one seizure-free patient after resective surgery. The results are compared with seizure onset zones visually inspected by the epileptologist. The congruent IED regions with visually detected seizure onset zones are encouraging results. Moreover, the application of CSP method for the identification of IED regions seems interesting as this method is fast and simple.

Background:Epilepsy is a chronic disorder that typically requires lifelongpharmacologic treatment. The choice of an antiepileptic drug (AED), therefore, requires careful consideration of efficacy and tolerability. However, the majority of patients with new-onset seizures are initially treated by physicians in the emergency department (ED) or by non-ED physicians (primary care physicians or internists), with phenytoin being the most common AED prescribed for initial therapy, and the long-term adverse effects of AEDs are often overlooked.Objective:The aim of this survey was to examine the perspectives of neurologistsand epileptologists concerning initial therapies prescribed by ED physicians and non-ED physicians for newly diagnosed partial seizures, particularly phenytoin, and the suitability of these therapies for long-term management of the disease.Methods:A computerized survey was conducted during the 2004 AmericanAcademy of Neurology meeting. The survey consisted of 10 questions concerning the use of AEDs in the initial and long-term treatment of newly diagnosed partial seizures.Results:The responses of 268 practitioners were analyzed. Survey participants indicated that 71% of patients referred to them by ED physicians were receiving phenytoin, whereas 59% of patients referred to them by non-ED physicians were receiving phenytoin. Seventy-six percent of survey participants responded that they would switch a patient having partial seizures referred from the ED to another AED. Seventy-eight percent indicated that they did not believe that the medications being received by patients with newly diagnosed partial seizures in the ED were suitable for long-term epilepsy treatment.Conclusion:Although appropriate treatment might vary in the acute and chronic settings, and phenytoin is used as a primary agent for acute treatment of seizures presenting in the ED, the results of the present survey suggest a discrepancy between the medications that primary care and ED physicians prescribe for newly diagnosed partial seizures and those that specialists prescribe for long-term therapy.

Objective: To determine whether the seizure descriptions given by a group of neurologists/epileptologists are discriminative. Method: We constructed templates for various seizure types describing how often symptoms were selected by the participants. We defined a matching score to indicate the match between such a template and the symptoms selected by each neurologist/epileptologist individually and computed the scores for each of the sets of selected symptoms with all templates. Correlation coefficients were calculated between the templates. Results: Data were collected from 24 participants. The matching scores and the correlation coefficients both show that participants provide discriminative descriptions of the seizure types. Descriptions of aggregated seizure types, such as primary generalized seizures, are less discriminatory than the descriptions of more specific seizure types. Conclusion: We concluded that the participants in our study selected symptoms that result in discriminative descriptions of the seizure types. This indicates that knowledge elicitation by using the opinions of a group of clinical experts is possible. The study also indicates that the design of the study could be ameliorated in several ways. These findings will be taken into account when designing the final study.

Obstructive sleep apnoea was first brought to prominence by Henri Gastaut, a French epileptologist. Since that time the interface between epilepsy and sleep disorders has received less attention than might be justified, recognizing that sleep deprivation is a poignant provocateur for seizures. Sleep deprivation is often used as a diagnostic procedure during electroencephalography (EEG) when waking EEG has failed to demonstrate abnormality. Patients referred to an outpatient neurological clinic for evaluation of possible seizures in whom sleep disorder was suspected, either due to snoring during the EEG or based on history, were evaluated with all-night diagnostic polysomnography (PSG) and appropriate intervention administered as indicated. Patient and seizure demography, sleep disorder and response to therapy were reviewed and the interface explored. Fifty patients aged between 10 and 83 years underwent PSG. Approximately half were diagnosed with epilepsy and almost three-quarters had sleep disorders sufficiently intrusive to require therapy (either continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) or medication). With co-existence of epilepsy and sleep disorders, proper management of sleep disorders provided significant benefit for seizure control. Snoring during EEG recordings could alert to the possibility of a sleep disorder even with epilepsy diagnosed. Where both epilepsy and sleep disorder coexist appropriate management of the sleep disorder improves control of the epilepsy.

Purpose: To verify the emotional components expressed by the relatives of adult patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy, and whether they are related to adjustment to the illness and the course of the illness over time. Methods: We studied a consecutive sample of 43 outpatients suffering from epilepsy and 43 key relatives using the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI), with the expressed emotion (EE) of the relatives being rated at baseline (T0). EE refers to a construct representing some key aspects of interpersonal relationships: the relatives were assigned to the high-EE group if they scored 3 or more on the emotional over involvement (EOI) scale, or showed hostility, or made 6 or more critical comments. The patients were clinically evaluated at baseline and for 1 year of appropriate treatment by an epileptologist who was blinded to the EE ratings. They also completed STAI XI, STAI X2 and Beck's Depression Inventory at baseline. Results: Twenty-six relatives (60%) were rated as showing a high degree of EE. In the 12-month follow-up study, high EE and high EOI were found to be associated with a significantly higher seizure frequency than that recorded for the patients living in low-EE households (p < 0.05). The patients from households assessed as reflecting a high degree of criticism showed poor drug compliance (p < 0.01), whereas those with relatives assessed as having a high degree of warmth showed better clinical and pharmacological compliance (p < 0.01). High family criticism scores also correlated with higher study entry levels of depression (p < 0.05) and trait and state anxiety (p < 0.05) among the patients. Conclusions: The study findings highlight the impact of particular components of the family emotional climate on the clinical course and psychological adjustment of patients with epilepsy. © 2007 British Epilepsy Association.