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Epilepsy is common in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A new study indicates their epilepsy is surprisingly photosensitive as well. Since photosensitive epilepsies can be triggered by flickering lights, the self-stimulatory behavior of ASD children, such as hand flapping in front of the face, has the potential to dramatically increase the risk of inducing photosensitive seizures.
Research presented today at the American Epilepsy Society’s 65th annual meeting suggests that systematic screening for developmental delay (DD) and autism should be routine for all children seen in epilepsy clinics. Investigators at Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, evaluated the potential of giving screening questionnaires to parents of pediatric epilepsy patients seen in an epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) and a ketogenic diet clinic.
Certain visual patterns and flashing images can provoke seizures in susceptible individuals, particularly among children and adolescents. Some media reports on the recent introduction of 3D-television sets suggest that this new technology may cause seizures in some viewers. Children who have epilepsy are somewhat more vulnerable to the provocative stimuli than their peers. But there has been no systematic examination of the potential effects 3D-TV may have on patients with epilepsy.
Being born prematurely may increase your risk of developing epilepsy as an adult, according to a new study published in the October 4, 2011, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham pinpoints the relationship between primary brain tumors and the onset of epileptic seizures and reveals that a drug used to treat Crohn’s disease inhibits those seizures and may be able to slow a tumor’s growth. The onset of seizures is a common symptom in gliomas and often is the first sign of a brain tumor. Sen. Ted Kennedy had a seizure in May 2008, and three days later doctors confirmed that he had a malignant glioma. Kennedy died the following year.
Medications are the mainstay of treatment for epilepsy, but for a considerable number of patients — estimated to be as many as 1 million in the U.S. — drugs do not work. These patients suffer from a type of epilepsy known as refractory or drug-resistant epilepsy, in which drugs cannot control their seizures. But at an epilepsy conference last month, Dr. Christopher DeGiorgio, a UCLA professor of neurology, presented the results of a non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical treatment that shows promise in controlling seizures.
A recent study has shown that cognitive impairment is evident early on in preschool children with epilepsy, which is consistent with results of similar studies in older children. Age of onset of first seizure is a significant predictor of cognitive impairment according to this study — the first to evaluate cognitive impairment in children age three to six.
Use of newer-generation antiepileptic drugs, which are also prescribed for bipolar mood disorders and migraine headaches, during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with an increased risk of major birth defects in the first year of life among infants in Denmark, according to a study in the May 18 issue of JAMA. Older-generation antiepileptic drugs are associated with an increased risk of birth defects.
Epilepsy is a disorder of recurrent unprovoked seizures that affects 325,000 children younger than 15 years in the United States. An examination of medication adherence among children with newly diagnosed epilepsy found that nearly 60 percent showed persistent nonadherence during the first 6 months of therapy, and that lower socioeconomic status was associated with higher non-adherence according to a study in the April 27 issue of JAMA.
Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Beaumont Hospital, Dublin have conducted the first study of its kind to examine in detail the basis of psychiatric disorders which occur in people with epilepsy. The findings of this study showed similarities with the brain cell patterns in people with schizophrenia. The research gives greater insights into both conditions which may potentially lead to new treatments in the future. The study was carried out at the National Centre for Epilepsy and Epilepsy Neurosurgery, Beaumont Hospital.
