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Introduction: Epilepsy affects around 50 million people worldwide and is associated with lower quality of life scores, an increased risk of premature death, and significant socio-economic implications. The lack of updated evidence on current epidemiology and patient characterization creates considerable uncertainty regarding the epilepsy burden in Portugal. The study aims to characterize and quantify the epilepsy patients who have been hospitalized, with medical or surgical procedures involved, and to analyze their associated comorbidities and mortality rates., Methods: A multicenter retrospective study was conducted using hospital production data of epilepsy patients. The study included all patients diagnosed with epilepsy-related International Classification of Diseases-9/10 codes between 2015 and 2018 in 57 Portuguese National Health Service (NHS) hospitals (n = 57 institutions). Patient characterization and quantification were done for all patients with an epilepsy diagnosis, with specific analyses focusing on those whose primary diagnosis was epilepsy. Baseline, demographic, and clinical characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistics., Results: Between 2015 and 2018, a total of 80,494 hospital episodes (i.e., patient visit that generates hospitalization and procedures) were recorded, with 18 % to 19 % directly related to epilepsy. Among these epilepsy-related hospital episodes, 13.0 % led to short term hospitalizations (less than 24 h). Additionally, the average length of stay for all these epilepsy-related episodes was 8 days. A total of 49,481 patients were identified with epilepsy based on ICD-9/10 codes. The median age of patients was 64 years (min: 0; max: 104), with a distribution of 4.8 patients per 1,000 inhabitants. From the total of deaths (9,606) between 2015 and 2018, 14% were associated with patients whose primary diagnosis was epilepsy, with 545 of these being epilepsy-related deaths. Among patients with a primary diagnosis of epilepsy, the most common comorbidities were hypertension (24%) and psychiatric-related or similar comorbidities (15%), such as alcohol dependance, depressive and major depressive disorders, dementia and other convulsions., Conclusion: This study showed similar results to other European countries. However, due to methodological limitations, a prospective epidemiological study is needed to support this observation. Furthermore, the present study provides a comprehensive picture of hospitalized epilepsy patients in Portugal, their comorbidities, mortality, and hospital procedures., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Background: In cases undergoing epilepsy surgery, postoperative psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) may be underdiagnosed complicating the assessment of postsurgical seizures' outcome and the clinical management. We conducted a survey to investigate the current practices in the European epilepsy monitoring units (EMUs) and the data that EMUs could provide to retrospectively detect cases with postoperative PNES and to assess the feasibility of a subsequent postoperative PNES research project for cases with postoperative PNES., Methods: We developed and distributed a questionnaire survey to 57 EMUs. Questions addressed the number of patients undergoing epilepsy surgery, the performance of systematic preoperative and postoperative psychiatric evaluation, the recording of sexual or other abuse, the follow-up period of patients undergoing epilepsy surgery, the performance of video-electroencephalogram (EEG) and postoperative psychiatric assessment in suspected postoperative cases with PNES, the existence of electronic databases to allow extraction of cases with postoperative PNES, the data that these bases could provide, and EMUs' interest to participate in a retrospective postoperative PNES project., Results: Twenty EMUs completed the questionnaire sheet. The number of patients operated every year/per center is 26.7 ( ± 19.1), and systematic preoperative and postoperative psychiatric evaluation is performed in 75% and 50% of the EMUs accordingly. Sexual or other abuse is systematically recorded in one-third of the centers, and the mean follow-up period after epilepsy surgery is 10.5 ± 7.5 years. In suspected postoperative PNES, video-EEG is performed in 85% and psychiatric assessment in 95% of the centers. An electronic database to allow extraction of patients with PNES after epilepsy surgery is used in 75% of the EMUs, and all EMUs that sent the sheet completed expressed their interest to participate in a retrospective postoperative PNES project., Conclusion: Postoperative PNES is an underestimated and not well-studied entity. This is a European survey to assess the type of data that the EMUs surgical cohorts could provide to retrospectively detect postoperative PNES. In cases with suspected PNES, most EMUs perform video-EEG and psychiatric assessment, and most EMUs use an electronic database to allow extraction of patients developing PNES., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None of the authors has any conflict of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Seizures are not only a frequent complication of stroke but have been associated with an unfavorable functional and vital outcome of patients who have had stroke. Facing a new paradigm of acute standard stroke care, acute symptomatic seizures in this clinical setting deserve to be rethought. Reperfusion therapies, the gold standard treatment for acute ischemic stroke, improve long-term survival and outcome of patients who have had stroke and have been associated both with clinical seizures and the occurrence of epileptiform activity in the electroencephalogram (EEG). This narrative review describes the different physiopathological mechanisms underlying the possible association between reperfusion therapies and seizures, both acute symptomatic seizures and unprovoked seizures, and the current evidence regarding the risk of poststroke seizures in treated patients. It also identifies the gaps in our knowledge to foster future studies in this field. By different mechanisms, reperfusions therapies may have opposing effects on the risk of poststroke seizures. There is a need for a better definition of the specific physiopathology of seizures in clinical practice, as many factors can be recognized. Additionally, most of the current clinical evidence refers to acute symptomatic seizures and not to unprovoked seizures or poststroke epilepsy, and our analysis does not support the existence of a strong association between thrombolysis and poststroke seizures. So far, the impact of reperfusion therapies on the frequency of poststroke seizures is unclear. To study this effect, many clinical challenges must be overcome, including a better and clear operational definition of seizures and stroke characteristics, the standard of stroke and epilepsy care and EEG monitoring, and the degree of reperfusion success. Prospective, high quality, larger, and longer follow-up multicentric studies are urgently needed. Additionally, stroke registries can also prove useful in better elucidate whether there is an association between reperfusion therapies and seizures. This article is part of the Special Issue "Seizures & Stroke"., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Dr. Bentes received the 2012 Research Grant in Cerebrovascular Diseases (Scientific Promoter: Sociedade Portuguesa do AVC/Sponsor: Tecnifar). She received travel support from the organization of “Seizures & Stroke” Congress, held in Gothenburg from 20th to 22nd February 2019. Dr. Brigo received travel support from Eisai; he acted as consultant for Eisai, LivaNova, and UCBPharma; he was one of the organizers of the “Seizures & Stroke” Congress, held in Gothenburg from 20th to 22nd February 2019. Dr. Zelano reports organizing the “Seizures & Stroke” Congress, held in Gothenburg from 20th to 22nd February 2019 (industry sponsors Eisai and UCBPharma), and being investigator or subinvestigator in clinical trials sponsored by Bial, SK life science, and GW Pharma as an employee of Sahlgrenska university hospital (no personal compensation). Dr. Ferro reports personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, outside the submitted work., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The occurrence of seizures in specific types of epilepsies can follow a 24-hour nonuniform or nonrandom pattern. We described the 24-hour pattern of clinical seizures in patients with focal refractory epilepsy who underwent video-electroencephalography monitoring. Only patients who were candidates for epilepsy surgery with an unequivocal seizure focus were included in the study. A total of 544 seizures from 123 consecutive patients were analyzed. Specific time of seizures were distributed along 3- or 4-hour time blocks or bins throughout the 24-hour period. The mean age of the subjects was 37.7 years, with standard deviation of 11.5 years, median of 37. The majority were females (70/56%). The majority of patients had a seizure focus located in the mesial temporal lobe (102/83%) and in the neocortical temporal lobe (13/11%). The remaining patients had a seizure focus located in the extratemporal lobe (8/6%). The most common etiology was mesial temporal sclerosis (86/69.9%). Nonuniform seizure distribution was observed in seizures arising from the temporal lobe (mesial temporal lobe and neocortical temporal lobe), with two peaks found in both 3- and 4-hour bins: 10:00-13:00/16:00-19:00 and 08:00-12:00/16:00-20:00 respectively (p=0.004). No specific 24-hour pattern was identified in seizures from extratemporal location. The 24-hour rhythmicity of seizure distribution is recognized in certain types of epilepsy, but studies on the topic are scarce. Their replication and validation is therefore needed. Our study confirms the bimodal pattern of temporal lobe epilepsy independently of the nature of the lesion. However, peak times differ between different studies, suggesting that the ambient, rhythmic exogenous factors or environmental/social zeitgebers, may modulate the 24-hour rhythmicity of seizures. Characterization of these 24-hour patterns of seizure occurrence can influence diagnosis and treatment in selected types of epilepsy, such as the case of temporal lobe epilepsy, the most common drug-resistant epilepsy., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) have hallucinations and mild cognitive dysfunction. The objective of this work was to study dreams in PD and TLE patients using a common functional model of dream production involving the limbic and paralimbic structures. Dreams were characterised in early-stage PD (19 males) and TLE patients (52) with dream diaries classified by the Hall van de Castle system and were compared with matched controls. In PD, there were significant differences between patients' dreams and those of controls: animals, physical aggression, and a befriender were more common in patients, and aggressor and bodily misfortunes were less common. The dreams of patients with frontal dysfunction showed more aggressive features. TLE patients had lower recall than PD patients and a higher proportion of dreams involving family and familiar settings, lower proportions involving success, and a higher incidence of frontal dysfunction. The dreams of PD and TLE patients share important features., (Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc.)