Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Ictal Verbal Help-Seeking: Occurrence And The Underlying Etiology., Ali Akbar Asadi-Pooya, Marjan Asadollahi, Krzysztof Bujarski, Amin H. Rabiei, Narsis Aminian, Dale Wyeth, Michael R. Sperling

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Ictal verbal help-seeking has never been systematically studied before. In this study, we evaluated a series of patients with ictal verbal help-seeking to characterize its frequency and underlying etiology.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all the long-term video-EEG reports from Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center over a 12-year period (2004-2015) for the occurrence of the term "help" in the text body. All the extracted reports were reviewed and patients with at least one episode of documented ictal verbal help-seeking in epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) were studied. For each patient, the data were reviewed from the electronic medical records, EMU report, and …

Ictal Kissing: Occurrence And Etiology., Ali Akbar Asadi-Pooya, Elizabeth W. Fletman

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Ictal kissing is a rare semiological manifestation in patients with epilepsy. We tried to estimate its occurrence and characterize the underlying etiology. We retrospectively reviewed all video-EEG reports from Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center over a 12-year period (2004-2015) for the occurrence of the term "kiss". We then searched the electronic database PubMed on September 21, 2016 using the following search terms in the English language: "ictal" OR "seizure" OR "epilepsy" AND "kiss" OR "kissing". Relevant original studies were included. During the study period, 5133 patients were investigated in our epilepsy monitoring unit. One patient (0.02%) had one episode of documented …

Seizure Clusters In Drug-Resistant Focal Epilepsy., Ali Akbar Asadi-Pooya, Maromi Nei, Ashwini Sharan, Michael R. Sperling

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

We investigated clinical factors associated with seizure clustering in patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy and any association between seizure clustering and outcome after surgery. We performed a retrospective study including patients with a diagnosis of drug-resistant focal epilepsy who underwent epilepsy surgery. Patients were prospectively registered in a database from 1986 until 2015. Seizure cluster was defined as two or more seizures occurring within 2 days. Potential risk factors for seizure clustering were assessed. To investigate any potential association between seizure clusters and seizure outcome after surgery, time to event analysis was used to produce a Kaplan-Meier estimate of seizure …

Ictal Pain: Occurrence, Clinical Features, And Underlying Etiologies., Ali Akbar Asadi-Pooya, Marjan Asadollahi, Michael R. Sperling

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: We analyzed a series of patients with ictal pain to estimate its occurrence and characterize the underlying etiologies.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all the long-term video-EEG reports from Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center over a 12-year period (2004-2015) for the occurrence of the term "pain" in the text body. All the extracted reports were reviewed, and patients with at least one documented episode of ictal pain in the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) were included in the study.

RESULTS: During the study period, 5133 patients were investigated in our EMU. Forty-six patients (0.9%) had at least one documented episode of ictal …

Ictal Crying, Ali Akbar Asadi-Pooya, Dale Wyeth, Michael R. Sperling

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe a series of patients with ictal crying to estimate its occurrence and characterize the clinical features and the underlying etiology.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all the long-term video-EEG reports from Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center over a 12-year period (2004-2015) for the occurrence of the terms "cry" or "sob" or "weep" in the text body. All the extracted reports were reviewed, and patients with at least one episode of documented ictal crying at the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) were included in the study.

RESULTS: During the study period, 5133 patients were investigated …

Acth Prevents Deficits In Fear Extinction Associated With Early Life Seizures, Andrew T. Massey, David K. Lerner, Gregory L. Holmes, Rod C. Scott, Amanda Hernan

Dartmouth Scholarship

Objective: Early life seizures (ELS) are often associated with cognitive and psychiatric comorbidities that are detrimental to quality of life. In a rat model of ELS, we explored long-term cognitive outcomes in adult rats. Using ACTH, an endogeneous HPA-axis hormone given to children with severe epilepsy, we sought to prevent cognitive deficits. Through comparisons with dexamethasone, we sought to dissociate the corticosteroid effects of ACTH from other potential mechanisms of action.

Results: Although rats with a history of ELS were able to acquire a conditioned fear learning paradigm and controls, these rats had significant deficits in their ability to extinguish …

Ketogenic Diet Decreases Emergency Room Visits And Hospitalizations Related To Epilepsy., Husam R. Kayyali, Anastasia Luniova, Ahmed Abdelmoity

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background. Approximately, one-third of patients with epilepsy are refractory to pharmacological treatment which mandates extensive medical care and imposes significant economic burden on patients and their societies. This study intends to assess the impact of the treatment with ketogenic diet (KD) on reducing seizure-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations in children with refractory epilepsy. Methods. This is a retrospective review of children treated with the KD in one tertiary center. We compared a 12 months' period prior to KD with 12 months after the diet was started in regard to the number of emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, …