Canadian Perspectives - Current Epilepsy Research & Facts

This article reviews a Canadian perspective on some advances in epilepsy research and lists some interesting epilepsy facts.

Many facts are relevant here in the US too. Many people do not repsond to current medications.

 JR

A biomarker for epilepsy

The use of electroencephalography (EEG) for the study and treatment of epilepsy was pioneered at The Neuro. New research demonstrates the value of using EEG to monitor high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) in a patient’s brain. The research shows that information from HFOs can be used as a valuable biomarker, which is an indicator of a diseased state and aids epilepsy diagnosis.  HFOs also appear to provide a better indication of the specific brain tissue that surgeons must remove to prevent a patient’s seizures.  Furthermore, the link between HFOs and the source of epileptic seizures strongly suggests that further study of HFOs could reveal information about the genesis of epilepsy, especially in children.  This research was led by The Neuro’s Jean Gotman, in collaboration with colleagues, Francois Dubeau and Rina Zelmann.

Discovering epileptic networks in the brain

Recent research at The Neuro suggests that different epileptic syndromes can lead to the formation of unique, widespread neural networks.  These networks are related to discharges in the periods between a person’s epileptic seizures (interictal epilepsy discharge, or IED).  Researchers simultaneously used EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine patients with different syndromes---frontal lobe epilepsy, posterior quadrant epilepsy and temporal lobe epilepsy.   The conclusion was that changes in the brain’s metabolism during IEDs might cause more widespread brain dysfunction than would be indicated by EEG results of discharges monitored only at the level of the scalp. The research was published by lead author Jean Gotman and his colleagues at The Neuro, Firas Fahoum, Renaud Lopes, Francesca Pittau, and Francois Dubeau.

EPILEPSY FACTS:

• Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by a sudden, brief change in the brain, expressed as a seizure.
• A seizure can appear as a convulsion lasting a few seconds or a few minutes, but a seizure can also be not more than a brief stare, an unusual movement of the body or a change in awareness.
• Epilepsy affects many Canadians.  According to Epilepsy Canada, approximately 0.6% of Canadians have epilepsy. This includes people who take anticonvulsant drugs or who had a seizure within the past five years.
• 30% of new Canadian cases each year are among children.  In about half of child cases,seizures eventually disappear.
• Epilepsy is a result of different causes: malformations during brain development, a head injury that causes scarring to the brain tissue, high fever and prolonged convulsions during early childhood, trauma at birth, a stroke or tumour.
• 1 out of 3 patients cannot control seizures solely by using available medications. For these patients, surgical removal of the brain tissue causing seizures is the only known effective treatment for controlling seizures and improving quality of life.
• Seizures can be triggered by outside events such as strobe lights, or by a person’s state of health---fatigue, illness, allergies, hunger, emotional stress.

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