ObjectiveTo determine the outcome of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) withdrawal in patients who had been seizure-free for more than two years. MethodsPatients with epilepsy who had been seizure-free for at least two years and decided to stop AEDs therapy gradually were checked on every two months for seizure relapse. The inclusion criteria were:①diagnosis of epilepsy, defined as at least two unprovoked seizures at least 24 hours apart; ②patients remained seizure-free for at least 24 consecutive months during AEDs therapy; ③patients expressed a desire to discontinue AEDs therapy gradually and agreed to return for regular follow-ups; and④electroencephalogram (EEG) showed no epileptic discharge. The time to a seizure relapse and predictive factors were analyzed by survival methods, including sex; age at seizure onset; number of episodes; seizure-free period before AEDs withdrawal; duration of follow-up after AEDs withdrawal; AEDs tapering off period (taper period); results from brain MRI; EEG before seizure-free; EEG before drug withdrawal; seizure type (classified as generalized, partial, or multiple types based on history); the number of AEDs administered for long-term seizure control. A log-rank test was used for univariate analysis, and a Cox proportional hazard model was used for multivariate analysis. ResultsSixty-eight patients (39 male, 29 female) were admithed. The relapsed rate was 23.5%. Univariate analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that multiple AEDs, hippocampal sclerosis and withdrawal time were significantly correlated with seizure recurrence and those were significant independent predictive factors, with hazard ratio were 0.861, 2.223 and 2.137 respectively. ConclusionsThe relapsed rate in our study was similar to other studies. Distinguishing variables, such as multiple AEDs, hippocampal sclerosis and withdrawal time, need to be considered when decide to withdraw. Therefore, our recommendation is that after two years of being seizure-free, patients could consider withdrawal unless they are hippocampal sclerosis patients.
ObjectiveTo study the cytokine changes in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) patients, and the mechanism of the development of hippocampal sclerosis. MethodsFifty MTLE patients who sought treatment from January 2013 to March 2014 were included in the study. Clinical features were investigated. All CSF samples of the 59 patients along with 19 samples of the control group were tested for 12 common cytokines using a chemokine magnetic bead panel. Data were statistically analyzed. ResultsClinical features showed no significant difference between hippocampal sclerosis and non-hippocampal sclerosis patients. Interleukin (IL)-1 receptor antagonist (RA), IL-4 and IL-9 expression decreased, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-3 and IL-5 expression increased. Up-regulation of TNF-α was significantly different between hippocampal sclerosis and non-hippocampal sclerosis patients. ConclusionIL-1RA, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5 and IL-9 changes may be non-specific seizure-related cytokine regulation. TNF-α is associated with hippocampal sclerosis pathology. TNF-α is a possible pathological element in hippocampal sclerosis development.
ObjectiveThe abnormal autophagy fluxis involved in the pathophysiological process of drug-resistance temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).Hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is the main pathological type of drug-resistance TLE.Different subtypes of HS have various prognosis, etiology and pathophysiology.However, whether theabnormal block ofautophagy flux involved in this process has not been reported.This study proposed a preliminary comparison of autophagy fluxin typical and atypical HS to investigate the potential pathogenesis and drug-resistance mechanism of atypical HS. MethodsSurgical excision of hippocampal and temporal lobe epilepsy foci were performed in 17 patients with drug-resistance TLE.Patients were grouped according to the HS classification issued by International League Against Epilepsy in 2013.The distribution and expression of LC3B, beclin-1 and P62 were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot in each group. ResultsLC3B, beclin-1 and P62 are mainly expressed in neuronal cytoplasm, which is consistent with previous reports.Taking β-actin as internal reference, we found that LC3B and Beclin-1, the downstream products of autophagy flux, have increased significantly (P < 0.01) in the atypical HS group compared to typical HS group.However, the autophagy flux substrate P62 has no difference between the groups.This result suggested that compared with the typical HS group, atypical HS group had autophagy substrate accumulation and autophagy flux abnormal block.Besides, we found that glyceraldehycle-3-phosphate dehydrogenase(GAPDH) was significantly different between the two groups (P=0.003). ConclusionThere is abnormal phenomenon of autophagy flux in atypical HS, and GAPDH elevation may be involved in its mechanism, which might provide new targets and ideas for future treatment of atypical HS.
ObjectiveTo explore the clinical features and surgical treatment effects of the temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.MethodsForty two patients diagnosed as temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis and underwent protemporal lobectomy in Wuhan Brain Hospital from Jan. 2012 to Dec. 2018 were collected, which included 30 males and 12 females, with the age between 9 to 60 years. Their disease duration ranged from 3 to 10 years. The clinical manifestations showed complex partial seizure in 18 cases, partial-secondary –generalized seizure in 4 cases, and generalized tonic-clonic seizure in 20 cases. Based on their results of clinical manifestations, combined with MRI and VEEG results, all the patients underwent anterior temporal lobectomy (including the most parts of the hippocampus and amydala).ResultsThe postoperative pathology confirmed the diagnosis of hippocampal sclerosis. The follow-up of more than 1 year showed seizure-free in 38 cases, and significant improvement in 4 cases.ConclusionsTo the patients of temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis, anterior temporal lobectomy should be performed (including the most parts of the hippocampus and amydala) if the VEEG monitoring results show that there are epileptic discharges in the ipsilateral temporal lobe. And the postoperative curative result is satisfactory.
Objective To identify the most consistent and replicable characteristics of altered spontaneous brain activity in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy patients with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS). Methods A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and CQVIP databases, to identify eligible whole-brain resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that had measured differences in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations or fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations between patients with MTLE-HS and healthy controls from January 2000 to January 2019. After literature screening and data extraction, Anisotropic Effect-Size Signed Differential Mapping software was used for voxel based pooled meta-analysis. Results Nine datasets from six studies were finally included, which contained 207 MTLE-HS patients and 239 healthy controls. The results demonstrated that, compared with the healthy controls, the MTLE-HS patients showed increased spontaneous brain activity in right hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, left cingulate gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, and right inferior temporal gyrus; while decreased spontaneous brain activity in left superior frontal gyrus, right angular gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, left precuneus, and right cerebellum (P<0.005, cluster extent≥10). Conclusion The current meta-analysis demonstrates that patients with MTLE-HS show increased spontaneous brain activity in lateral and mesial temporal regions and decreased spontaneous brain activity in default mode network, which preliminarily clarifies the characteristics of altered spontaneous brain activity in patients with MTLE-HS.