Project description:BackgroundAmong women with epilepsy, studies regarding changes in seizure frequency during pregnancy have been limited by the lack of an appropriate nonpregnant comparator group to provide data on the natural course of seizure frequency in both groups.MethodsIn this prospective, observational, multicenter cohort study, we compared the frequency of seizures during pregnancy through the peripartum period (the first 6 weeks after birth) (epoch 1) with the frequency during the postpartum period (the following 7.5 months after pregnancy) (epoch 2). Nonpregnant women with epilepsy were enrolled as controls and had similar follow-up during an 18-month period. The primary outcome was the percentage of women who had a higher frequency of seizures that impaired awareness during epoch 1 than during epoch 2. We also compared changes in the doses of antiepileptic drugs that were administered in the two groups during the first 9 months of epoch 1.ResultsWe enrolled 351 pregnant women and 109 controls with epilepsy. Among the 299 pregnant women and 93 controls who had a history of seizures that impaired awareness and who had available data for the two epochs, seizure frequency was higher during epoch 1 than during epoch 2 in 70 pregnant women (23%) and in 23 controls (25%) (odds ratio, 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54 to 1.60). During pregnancy, the dose of an antiepileptic drug was changed at least once in 74% of pregnant women and in 31% of controls (odds ratio, 6.36; 95% CI, 3.82 to 10.59).ConclusionsAmong women with epilepsy, the percentage who had a higher incidence of seizures during pregnancy than during the postpartum period was similar to that in women who were not pregnant during the corresponding epochs. Changes in doses of antiepileptic drugs occurred more frequently in pregnant women than in nonpregnant women during similar time periods. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health; MONEAD ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01730170.).
Project description:ObjectiveTo characterize the magnitude and course of alterations in total and free lamotrigine (LTG) clearance (Cl) during pregnancy and the postpartum period, to assess the impact of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) on seizure frequency, to determine the ratio to individual target LTG concentration that is associated with increased seizure risk, and to evaluate maternal postpartum toxicity.MethodsA cohort of women were enrolled before conception or during pregnancy in this prospective, observational study. Visits occurred every 1 to 3 months with review of seizure and medication diaries, examination, and blood sampling. Total and free LTG Cls were calculated. Individualized target concentrations were used for TDM. The ratio to target concentration (RTC) was compared between patients with and without increased seizures. A receiver operating characteristic curve determined the threshold RTC that best predicts increased seizure frequency.ResultsAnalysis of 305 samples in 53 pregnancies demonstrated increased total and free LTG Cl in all trimesters above nonpregnant baseline (p < 0.001), with peak increases of 94% and 89% in the third trimester. Free LTG Cl was higher in white compared with black women (p < 0.05). Increased seizure frequency (n = 36 women with epilepsy) in the second trimester was associated with a lower RTC (p < 0.001), and RTC < 0.65 was a significant predictor of seizure worsening. An empiric postpartum taper reduced the likelihood of maternal LTG toxicity (p < 0.05) (n = 27). Newborn outcomes were similar to the general population (n = 52).ConclusionsThese novel data contribute to a rational treatment plan and dosing paradigm for lamotrigine use during pregnancy, parturition, and the postpartum period.
Project description:The aims of the study were to characterize the magnitude of clearance changes during pregnancy for multiple antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and to assess seizure frequency and factors increasing seizure risk in pregnant women with epilepsy. A retrospective analysis was performed for 115 pregnancies in 95 women with epilepsy followed at the Emory Epilepsy Center between 1999 and 2012. Antiepileptic drug blood levels (ABLs) obtained during routine clinical practice were used to calculate AED clearance at multiple points during pregnancy. Antiepileptic drug doses and seizure activity were also recorded. The data were analyzed for changes in clearance and dose across pregnancy and for an association between ABL and changes in seizure frequency. Significant changes in clearance during pregnancy were observed for lamotrigine (p<0.001) and levetiracetam (p<0.006). Average peak clearance increased by 191% for lamotrigine and 207% for levetiracetam from nonpregnant baseline. Marked variance was present across individual women and also across repeat pregnancies in individual women. Despite increased AED dose across most AEDs, seizures increased in 38.4% of patients during pregnancy. Seizure deterioration was significantly more likely in patients with seizures in the 12 months prior to conception (p<0.001) and those with localization-related epilepsy (p=0.005). When ABL fell >35% from preconception baseline, seizures worsened significantly during the second trimester when controlling for seizure occurrence in the year prior to conception. Substantial pharmacokinetic changes during pregnancy occur with multiple AEDs and may increase seizure risk. Monitoring of AED serum concentrations with dose adjustment is recommended in pregnant women with epilepsy. Further studies are needed for many AEDs.
Project description:This study was performed to test the hypothesis that systemic leukocyte gene expression has prognostic value differentiating low from high seizure frequency refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). A consecutive series of sixteen patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy was studied. Based on a median baseline seizure frequency of 2.0 seizures per month, low versus high seizure frequency was defined as < 2 seizures/month and > 2 seizures/month, respectively.
Project description:High frequency oscillations (HFOs) have been associated with epileptogenicity. In rats, the extent of HFOs (>200 Hz) is correlated with seizure frequency. We studied whether the same applies to patients with focal epilepsy. Thirty-nine patients with intracerebral EEG sampled at 2000 Hz were studied for interictal ripples (80-250 Hz), fast ripples (FR, 250-500 Hz) and spikes. Seizure frequency before implantation was compared to numbers of channels with HFOs (>1/min). Analyses were repeated for HFO rates of >5, >10 and >20. Separate analyses were done for 25 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy only and for a selection of similar unilateral temporal channels in 12 patients. No linear correlation or trend was found relating the number of channels with HFOs and seizure frequency. There was a linear positive correlation between the number of channels with more than 20 FRs/min and seizure frequency. The hypothesis that the more tissue generating HFOs, the higher the seizure frequency, was not confirmed, though there might be a correlation for high FR rates.
Project description:High-frequency oscillations (HFO) are promising EEG biomarkers of epileptogenicity. While the evidence supporting their significance derives mainly from invasive recordings, recent studies have extended these observations to HFO recorded in the widely accessible scalp EEG. Here, we investigated whether scalp HFO in drug-resistant focal epilepsy correspond to epilepsy severity and how they are affected by surgical therapy. In eleven children with drug-resistant focal epilepsy that underwent epilepsy surgery, we prospectively recorded pre- and postsurgical scalp EEG with a custom-made low-noise amplifier (LNA). In four of these children, we also recorded intraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG). To detect clinically relevant HFO, we applied a previously validated automated detector. Scalp HFO rates showed a significant positive correlation with seizure frequency (R2?=?0.80, p?<?0.001). Overall, scalp HFO rates were higher in patients with active epilepsy (19 recordings, p?=?0.0066, PPV?=?86%, NPV?=?80%, accuracy?=?84% CI [62% 94%]) and decreased following successful epilepsy surgery. The location of the highest HFO rates in scalp EEG matched the location of the highest HFO rates in ECoG. This study is the first step towards using non-invasively recorded scalp HFO to monitor disease severity in patients affected by epilepsy.
Project description:High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) of up to 500Hz in EEG are considered to have close relation with ictogenesis. We had the unique opportunity to record a seizure in EEG with intracerebral macroelectrodes and a sampling frequency of 10kHz. Considering the notion that faster HFOs are likely more ictogenic, we investigated this ictal EEG data to find if even faster HFOs were present. HFOs were investigated in interictal spikes and seizure activity using time-frequency spectra: t values corresponding to frequencies from 100 to 1000Hz were obtained by comparison to the background and controlled by the false discovery rate (FDR). The seizure had a right hippocampal onset. HFOs up to 800Hz as well as HFOs below 500Hz built up in the hippocampal discharges more at the beginning of the seizure and during the preictal period than in the interictal period. These HFOs were visually confirmed in temporally expanded EEG traces. We demonstrated for the first time the existence of HFOs above 500Hz and up to 800Hz with intracerebral macroelectrodes in an epileptic patient; they occurred primarily in association with the seizure discharge. HFOs above 500Hz possibly reflect facilitation of ictogenic neuronal hypersynchronization.
Project description:We investigated the relationship between the interictal high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) and the seizure onset zones (SOZs) defined by the ictal HFOs or conventional frequency activity (CFA), and evaluated the usefulness of the interictal HFOs as spatial markers of the SOZs. We analysed seizures showing discrete HFOs at onset on intracranial EEGs acquired at ?1000-Hz sampling rate in a training cohort of 10 patients with temporal and extratemporal epilepsy. We classified each ictal channel as: HFO+ (HFOs at onset with subsequent evolution), HFO- (HFOs at onset without evolution), CFA (1.6-70-Hz activity at onset with evolution), or non-ictal. We defined the SOZs as: hSOZ (HFO+ channels only), hfo+&-SOZ (HFO+ and HFO- channels), and cSOZ (CFA channels). Using automated methods, we detected the interictal HFOs and extracted five features: density, connectivity, peak frequency, log power, and amplitude. We created logistic regression models using these features, and tested their performance in a separate replication cohort of three patients. The models containing the five interictal HFO features reliably differentiated the channels located inside the SOZ from those outside in the training cohort (p<0.001), reaching the highest accuracy for the classification of hSOZ. Log power and connectivity had the highest odds ratios, both being higher for the channels inside the SOZ compared with those outside the SOZ. In the replication cohort of novel patients, the same models differentiated the HFO+ from HFO- channels, and predicted the extents of the hSOZ and hfo+&-SOZ (F1 measure >0.5) but not the cSOZ. Our study shows that the interictal HFOs are useful in defining the spatial extent of the SOZ, and predicting whether or not a given channel in a novel patient would be involved in the seizure. The findings support the existence of an abnormal network of tightly-linked ictal and interictal HFOs in patients with intractable epilepsy.
Project description:OBJECTIVE:Seizure frequency variability is associated with placebo responses in randomized controlled trials (RCT). Increased variability can result in drug misclassification and, hence, decreased statistical power. We investigated a new method that directly incorporated variability into RCT analysis, ZV. METHODS:Two models were assessed: the traditional 50%-responder rate (RR50), and the variability-corrected score, ZV. Each predicted seizure frequency upper and lower limits using prior seizures. Accuracy was defined as percentage of time-intervals when the observed seizure frequencies were within the predicted limits. First, we tested the ZV method on three datasets (SeizureTracker: n=3016, Human Epilepsy Project: n=107, and NeuroVista: n=15). An additional independent SeizureTracker validation dataset was used to generate a set of 200 simulated trials each for 5 different sample sizes (total N=100 to 500 by 100), assuming 20% dropout and 30% drug efficacy. "Power" was determined as the percentage of trials successfully distinguishing placebo from drug (p<0.05). RESULTS:Prediction accuracy across datasets was, ZV: 91-100%, RR50: 42-80%. Simulated RCT ZV analysis achieved >90% power at N=100 per arm while RR50 required N=200 per arm. SIGNIFICANCE:ZV may increase the statistical power of an RCT relative to the traditional RR50.
Project description:Epileptic seizures constitute a common neurological disease primarily diagnosed by characteristic rhythms or waves in the local field potentials (LFPs) of cerebral cortices or electroencephalograms. With a basolateral amygdala (BLA) kindling model, we found that the dominant frequency of BLA oscillations is in the delta range (1-5 Hz) in both normal and seizure conditions. Multi-unit discharges are increased with higher seizure staging but remain phase-locked to the delta waves in LFPs. Also, the change in synchrony precedes and outlasts the changes in discharging units as well as behavioral seizures. One short train of stimuli readily drives the pyramidal-inhibitory neuronal networks in BLA slices into prolonged reverberating activities, where the burst and interburst intervals may concurrently set a "natural wavelength" for delta frequencies. Seizures thus could be viewed as erroneous temporospatial continuums to normal oscillations in a system with a built-in synchronizing and resonating nature for information relay.