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Query: UMLS:C0036572 (seizures)
 80,221 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

When symptoms such as lateralized paresthesias or pain occur prominently and early in partial seizures, parietal lobe seizure origin should be suspected. Most patients with parietal lobe seizures, however, have no symptoms or signs suggesting the parietal lobe. In the absence of detectable epileptogenic lesions, these patients without clinical seizure characteristics suggesting parietal lobe origin can present with misleading findings, resulting in erroneous localization, which can, in turn, lead to ineffective surgical intervention (23,25). Although ictal SPECT might provide vital evidence of parietal lobe seizure origin (25), as noted previously, this technology also can produce misleading data in some patients (52). Even when parietal lobe seizure origin is suspected, in the absence of a structural lesion, documenting this with invasive monitoring can be difficult. The parietal lobes, like the frontal lobes, are large, diffuse structures, and the potential for sampling error is high (19). Spread patterns are unpredictable and can result in false localization (23). Even with extensive and repetitive invasive studies, localization can prove elusive (53). No well-documented series of patients with non-lesional parietal lobe epilepsy in the modern literature who have been cured by surgery have been reported as a result of a combination of the rarity of the condition, the lack of correct recognition, as well as the difficulty of localization. Patients with medically intractable parietal lobe seizures, however, can experience excellent surgical results (23,24). Postoperative parietal lobe symptoms and signs, even when extreme, are usually not enduring (patient 3). One of our patients, however, did develop a chronic pain syndrome (48).
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PMID:Parietal lobe epilepsy. 1109 67

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a neurophysiological treatment for patients with medically or surgically refractory epilepsy. Since the first human implant in 1989, more than 10 000 patients have been treated with VNS. Two randomized controlled studies have shown a statistically significant decrease in seizure frequency during a 12-week treatment period versus a baseline period when 'high stimulation' mode was compared with 'low stimulation' mode. The efficacy appears to increase over time. In general, one third of the patients show a >50% reduction of seizure frequency; one third show a 30-50% seizure reduction, and one third of patients show no response. Few patients become seizure-free. Side effects during stimulation are mainly voice alteration, coughing, throat paraesthesia and discomfort. When studied on a long-term basis, VNS is an efficacious, safe and cost-effective treatment not only in adults but also in children and the elderly. The precise mechanism of action remains to be elucidated. In recent years much progress has been made through neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, neurochemical and cerebral blood flow studies in animals and patients treated with VNS. Further elucidation of the mechanism of action of VNS may increase its clinical efficacy and our general understanding of some physiopathological aspects of epilepsy. Finally, VNS may become an alternative treatment for other conditions such as depression and pain.
Seizure 2001 Sep
PMID:Vagus nerve stimulation for refractory epilepsy. 1170 Oct 2

This article reviews the clinical pharmacology, adverse events, and comparative tolerability of the drugs commonly available for treating ulcerative colitis. Synthetic glucocorticoids are the most commonly used conventional corticosteroids in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Corticosteroids can be expected to impact on every organ system and most metabolic activities of the body. Suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is common, but reversible, with conventional corticosteroids, but not with newer topically-acting corticosteroids. A serious complication of corticosteroids in children is growth retardation. The frequent adverse effects associated with the use of corticosteroids have prompted the development of a new group of rectal agents with equivalent efficacy and a more benign adverse event profile such as prednisolone metasulfobenzoate, fluticasone propionate, tixocortol pivalate, beclomethasone dipropionate and budesonide. The incidence of adverse effects related to the use of sulfasalazine (5-aminosalicylic acid plus sulfapyridine) is high and is dose related. The most frequently reported adverse effect is intolerance, not allergy, and relates to the sulfapyridine moiety correlating with the acetylator phenotype. Tolerance to 5-aminosalicylic acid by 80 to 90% of those patients allergic to, or intolerant of, sulfasalazine has given further evidence suggesting that the sulfa moiety is responsible for much of the toxicity of sulfasalazine. However, 10 to 20% of patients who are sulfasalazine intolerant have similar reactions to 5-aminosalicylic acid formulations, indicating that the 5-aminosalicylic acid moiety is responsible for adverse events in some patients taking sulfasalazine. Adverse effects resulting from treatment with azathioprine and mercaptopurine can be divided into two categories: allergic-type reactions that appear to be dose-independent and nonallergic-type reactions that are probably dose- and metabolism-dependent. It is well established now that genotype and thiopurine methyltransferase activity have an important impact on the rate of adverse effects during azathioprine or mercaptopurine therapy. Adverse effects resulting from high dose cyclosporin therapy for inflammatory bowel disease include: renal insufficiency, hypertension, opportunistic infections, seizures, paresthesias, tremor, headache, gingival hyperplasia, hypertrichosis, and anaphylaxis with intravenous cyclosporin. In contrast, the incidence of adverse events was relatively low when low-dose oral cyclosporin was used. The incidence of adverse events associated with any of the medications used in the treatment of ulcerative colitis is difficult to assess and it is therefore hard to make a comparative evaluation. The broadening of the drug regimen available to the clinician has advanced our knowledge about the disease, and further development of more effective, less toxic agents can be anticipated in the future.
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PMID:Comparative tolerability of therapies for ulcerative colitis. 1211 42

A 42-yr-old woman presented with hyperthyroidism and a large, firm, irregular goiter. Within a few weeks she became hypothyroid. Five months later she developed increasingly severe neck pain and compressive symptoms. The goiter had become rock hard. A fine needle aspiration biopsy showed features of chronic thyroiditis and fibrosis. She partially responded to a course of glucocorticoids. Tamoxifen was added, with marked improvement in goiter size and pain. Both medications were tapered off. Two months later the patient experienced paresthesias of the fingertips, perioral numbness, and a seizure. She was found to have spontaneous primary hypoparathyroidism. Three months later the patient became hoarse and experienced difficulty in breathing. She was found to have a massively enlarged thyroid with compression of the right internal jugular vein and encasement of the right carotid artery as well as tracheal narrowing. She also had right vocal cord paralysis due to recurrent laryngeal nerve involvement. Because of airway compromise, an emergency isthmusectomy was performed, and the patient was given a postoperative course of glucocorticoids with gradual improvement. Postoperative diagnosis was Riedel's thyroiditis. Two months later she presented with near-syncope and was found to have bradycardia, hypotension, and right Horner's syndrome, presumably due to compression of the right carotid sheath. She was given i.v. glucocorticoids and tamoxifen. Six months later and 18 months after her initial presentation, the patient is doing remarkably well. Her goiter has regressed by more than 50%, and she no longer has any pain or difficulty breathing. She remains a little hoarse and has persistent hypothyroidism and hypoparathyroidism. She is taking prednisone (5 mg, this is being tapered very slowly) and tamoxifen (20 mg) daily. This case illustrates the protean manifestations of Riedel's thyroiditis, a rare but fascinating disease. The epidemiology of this disease, its pathophysiology and complications, and the roles of surgery and medical therapy are reviewed.
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PMID:Clinical case seminar: Riedel's thyroiditis: report of a case complicated by spontaneous hypoparathyroidism, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, and Horner's syndrome. 1216 72

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a neurophysiological treatment for patients with medically or surgically refractory epilepsy. Since the first human implant in 1989, more than 10,000 patients have been treated with VNS. Two randomized controlled studies have shown a statistically significant decrease in seizure frequency during a 12-week treatment period versus a baseline period when 'high stimulation' mode was compared with 'low stimulation' mode. The efficacy appears to increase over time. In general, one third of the patients show a > 50% reduction of seizure frequency; one third show a 30-50% seizure reduction, and one third of patients show no response. Few patients become seizure-free. Side effects during stimulation are mainly voice alteration, coughing, throat paraesthesia and discomfort. When studied on a long-term basis, VNS is an efficacious, safe and cost-effective treatment not only in adults but also in children and the elderly. The precise mechanism of action remains to be elucidated. In recent years much progress has been made through neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, neurochemical and cerebral blood flow studies in animals and patients treated with VNS. Further elucidation of the mechanism of action of VNS may increase its clinical efficacy and our general understanding of some physiopathological aspects of epilepsy. Finally, VNS may become an alternative treatment for other conditions such as depression and pain.
Seizure 2002 Apr
PMID:Vagus nerve stimulation for refractory epilepsy. 1218 67

In response to a question on how to avoid the rare, inadvertent intravascular or ip injection of hypertonic saline solution during therapeutic abortion, 3 consultants replied. According to Reid and Frigoletto, to avoid intravascular or ip infusion, place a small indwelling polyethylene catheter in the amniotic sac rather than a metal needle. This virtually precludes the possibility of inadvertent iv injection. When and if necessary, correct catheter placement may be confirmed by the use of fluoroscopy and amniography prior to the injection of hypertonic saline solution. The chemical imbalances associated with this accident are those encountered in severe hypernatremia with resultant brain edema and hemorrhagic softening. Bizarre paresthesia, pyrexia, altered consciousness, and, eventually, convulsions preceded the fatal cases. Peritoneal dialysis may be life saving in the event of ip injection. Naturiuretics, appropriate parenteral fluid administration, and possibly exchange transfusion might be indicated for intravascular accidents. In Goodlin's hospital there have been no cases of acute hypernatremia in the last 500 therapeutic abortions done with hypertonic saline solution. This is believed to be related to 2 changes in technique: 1) not losing the amniotic space by removing only as much amniotic fluid as can easily be obtained and 2) using a simple gravity infusion technique for the instillation of the hypertonic saline solution. During infusion it is essential that the patient be alert, for the first symptoms of intravascular injection are a slight pain, burning, or a feeling of warmth in the pelvis. If these minor symptoms are ignored and the procedure is continued, a sensation of flushing occurs throughout the body with tingling in the scalp and ringing in the ears followed finally by seizures, apnea, or coma or both. Late symptoms are those of hemolytic anemia and renal failure. From experience, serum sodium levels during these events are as high as 185 mEq/1. Along with occurrence of acute hypernatremia the contents of the amniotic cavity are sometimes extruded extraovularly through the fallopian tube into the peritoneal cavity when labor begins. Cases with serum sodium levels of 170 mEq/1 some 6-7 hours after saline instillation were observed, but by contrast these patients' only symptoms were extreme thirst and peritoneal discomfort (Lancet 1: 305, 1968). The treatment of hypernatremia is to force fluids either by mouth or iv. Since most commercial 5% dextrose in water solutions are actually 4.5% (regulations permit a 10% error), such hypotonic fluids are useful for treating hypernatremia.
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PMID:Hypernatremia from intravascular saline infusion during therapeutic abortion. 1230 84

Topiramate is an antiepileptic drug that has a broad spectrum of antiseizure effects, which appear to be the result of several neurostabilising pharmacological mechanisms. These include blockade of ion channels, potentiation of GABA neuroinhibition and glutamate receptor antagonism at non-NMDA receptors, as well as mild inhibition of carbonic anhydrase. Topiramate monotherapy dose dependently reduced the number of patients who met seizure related exit criteria in children (aged > or =6 years) and adults with epilepsy. This effect was also observed in patients who had previously experienced partial onset seizures and for those who had experienced generalised tonic clonic seizures. Six-month and 1-year seizure-free rates were dose-dependently reduced. In epilepsy, topiramate monotherapy 100 or 200 mg/day was as effective as carbamazepine 600 mg/day or valproate 1250 mg/day as measured by time to study exit for any reason, time to first seizure and percentage of patients seizure-free in the final 6 months of treatment (mean treatment duration 244 days). Adverse events associated with topiramate monotherapy that were dosage related included paraesthesia, weight loss and diarrhoea. Renal calculi were also reported in both fully published trials.
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PMID:Topiramate: as monotherapy in newly diagnosed epilepsy. 1453 52

A 54-year-old man with a history of generalised tonic clonic seizures presented with complaints of daily unilateral stiffening of the limbs, preceded by paraesthesia. Two years before he had been treated with surgery and radiotherapy for a laryngo-pharyngeal carcinoma. Therefore, epilepsy due to intracerebral metastasis was suggested. However, neither CT nor MRI of the brain (with intravenous contrast) showed any abnormalities and the EEG showed no epileptiform discharges. Laboratory tests revealed elevated levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone in the blood, hypocalcaemia, hyperphosphataemia and hypomagnesaemia. In combination with the medical history, tetany was found to be the correct diagnosis. In this patient, tetany was caused by hypoparathyroidism secondary to surgery and radiotherapy in the neck region. He was treated with levothyroxine, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin D and recovered in a few weeks' time. Hypothyroidism and hypoparathyroidism are common complications after treatment (surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy) for laryngo-pharyngeal carcinoma and other malignancies in the neck region.
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PMID:[Clinical reasoning and decision making in practice. A man with unilateral attacks of muscular rigidity following neck surgery for a malignant tumor]. 1461 2

The hallmark of acute hypocalcemia (ionized calcium <0.75 mmol/l) is tetany, which is characterized by neuromuscular irritability. The symptoms may be mild with circumoral numbness, paresthesias of hands and feet, and muscular cramps or severe with laryngospasm, focal or generalized tonic muscle cramps, or seizures. Myocardial dysfunction and prolongation of QT interval also may occur. Most often, acute hypocalcemia occurs after thyroid or parathyroid surgery. Rarer cases are intravascular binding of ionized calcium by phosphate, citrate, or drugs such as foscarnet or bisphosphonates. The most appropriate treatment is intravenous calcium, in the form of 100-200 mg of elemental calcium. Thereafter, the therapy depends on the underlying disease. In most cases vitamin D has to be added to calcium substitution. In cases of hypomagnesemia, magnesium and not calcium has to be substituted. It has not yet been proven in clinical trials whether substitution of magnesium and/or calcium influences the clinical outcome in patients with severe sepsis or pancreatitis who show both hypomagnesemia and hypocalcemia.
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PMID:[Tetany]. 1468 85

Topiramate was assessed in an open-label trial as broad-spectrum antiepileptic monotherapy, independently from the epilepsy type or syndrome. Adults and children aged 2 years and older, who were diagnosed with epilepsy within the last 5 years, treatment-naive or failing prior treatment with one antiepileptic drug (AED), received individually adjusted doses of topiramate, after escalation to 100mg/day over 4 weeks (maximum 400mg/day) or 3mg/kg/day over 6 weeks (maximum 9 mg/kg/day), respectively. Patients were followed for >or=7 months and optionally up to a maximum of 13 months. Data were analysed for all patients (n=692), as well as for focal (n=421) and generalized epilepsies (n=148). The median topiramate dose used was 125 mg/day in adults and 3.3mg/kg/day in children (<or=12 years). Overall, 80% of patients completed the 7-month study. During this period, 44.3% were seizure-free, while 76.3% achieved >or=50% reduction in mean monthly seizure frequency. Patients with focal and generalized epilepsies alike responded to treatment (73.9 and 83.8% with at least 50% seizure reduction): 39.4% of patients with focal epilepsy and 61.5% of those with generalized epilepsy were seizure-free. The mean monthly seizure frequency was significantly reduced versus baseline at all visits (p<0.001). Similar response rates were obtained from the 237 patients completing the 1-year observation period. During the mandatory 7-month period of study, 8.8% of patients reported insufficient tolerability as a reason for dropout. The most frequent adverse event was paraesthesia. Our results support findings that emerge from controlled studies that topiramate is effective and well tolerated when used as initial or second monotherapy. They also suggest that in a naturalistic setting, overall good retention on treatment and seizure freedom are observed at low doses in a broad spectrum of epilepsies.
Seizure 2005 Sep
PMID:Topiramate monotherapy as broad-spectrum antiepileptic drug in a naturalistic clinical setting. 1596 26


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