The intracarotid etomidate Wada test: a 54-patient series.

Hemispheric language dominance and isolated hemispheric memory function evaluation can be undertaken with the intracarotid injection of a general anesthetic agent (Wada test). Amobarbital has been traditionally used as the anesthetic agent, but legal and commercial constraints limit its use. We evaluated the use of etomidate as an alternative agent for the Wada test in a series of 54 consecutive adult patients with mesial temporal sclerosis undergoing presurgical evaluation for epilepsy surgery. Language lateralization and hemispheric memory function evaluation were successfully achieved in all cases. Side effects (somnolence, tremor, and dystonia) were infrequent, minor, and transient and did not require interruption of the procedure. Etomidate appears to be a safe and effective alternative agent to amobarbital in the Wada test. Similarly to the amobarbital Wada test, the ability of the etomidate Wada test to predict postoperative memory decline remains unclear.

Low prevalence but high specificity of material-specific memory impairment in epilepsy associated with hippocampal sclerosis.

PURPOSE: Material-specific memory impairment is used as a lateralizing tool in the evaluation of temporal lobe epilepsy. Lateralizing ability of material-specific memory deficits in temporal lobe epilepsy remains controversial. METHODS: We studied memory impairment profiles of verbal and nonverbal memory deficits with eight memory subtests of four neuropsychological instruments (two verbal and two nonverbal) in 87 right-handed patients with epilepsy associated with unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS; 44 right - R, 43 left - L) and 42 controls, with an IQ >70, at least 8 years of education, and without comorbidities. KEY FINDINGS: Selective verbal memory impairment was noted in 11 of 43 or 25.6% of left MTS cases, with 82.2% specificity, whereas selective nonverbal memory impairment was noted in 11 of 42 or 26.2% of right MTS cases, with 92% specificity. Nonlateralizing profiles of memory performance were seen in the remaining 65 of 87 patients. Approximately half (46/87 or 52.9%) of the patients had intact memory function in both modalities, equally distributed between patients with right MTS (23/44) and left MTS (23/43). Global impairment of both memory types was seen in 12 of 87 or 13.8% of patients, equally distributed between the two groups (7/43 left and 5/44 right). SIGNIFICANCE: Lateralizing profiles of selective verbal and nonverbal memory deficits are highly specific for left and right MTS, although infrequently encountered in our patients. Nonlateralizing profiles predominated in this population. These findings suggest hemispheric asymmetry memory function, with complex functional interaction of the hippocampi, and possible compensatory mechanisms in the setting of a unilateral lesion.

Bilateral ictal EEG is associated with better memory outcome after hippocampal sclerosis surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To compare memory outcomes after surgery for unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (HS)-associated epilepsy in patients with unilateral and bilateral ictal electrographic involvement. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated HS patients, aged 18-55 years and IQ ≥70. Left (L) and right (R) surgical groups underwent noninvasive video-EEG monitoring and Wada test. We classified patients as Ipsilateral if ictal EEG was restricted to the HS side, or Bilateral, if at least one seizure onset occurred contralaterally to the HS, or if ictal discharge evolved to the opposite temporal region. Patients who declined surgery served as controls. Memory was evaluated on two occasions with Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test and Rey Visual-Design Learning Test. Baseline neuropsychological test scores were compared between groups. Pre- and postoperative scores were compared within each group. Reliable change index Z-scores (RCI) were obtained using controls as references, and compared between surgical groups. RESULTS: We evaluated 64 patients. Patients were classified as: L-Ipsilateral (9), L-Bilateral (15), L-Control (9), R-Ipsilateral (10), R-Bilateral (9), and R-Control (12). On preoperative evaluation, memory performance did not differ among surgical groups. Right HS patients did not present postoperative memory decline. L-Ipsilateral group presented postoperative decline on immediate (P = 0.036) and delayed verbal recall (P = 0.011), while L-Bilateral did not decline. L-Ipsilateral had lower RCI Z-scores, indicating delayed verbal memory decline compared to L-Bilateral (P = 0.012). SIGNIFICANCE: Dominant HS patients with bilateral ictal involvement presented less pronounced postoperative verbal memory decline compared to patients with exclusive ipsilateral ictal activity. Surgery was indicated in these patients regardless of memory impairment on neuropsychological testing, since resection of the left sclerotic hippocampus could result in cessation of contralateral epileptiform activity, and, therefore, improved memory function.

Good surgical outcome in discordant ictal EEG-MRI unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis patients.

PURPOSE: Video electroencephalography (vEEG) monitoring of patients with unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis (uMTS) may show concordant or discordant seizure onset in relation to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of MTS. Contralateral seizure usually leads to an indication of invasive monitoring. Contralateral seizure onset on invasive monitoring may contraindicate surgery. We evaluated long-term outcome after anteromesial temporal lobectomy (AMTL) in a consecutive series of uMTS patients with concordant and discordant vEEG findings, uniformly submitted to AMTL on the MRI evidence of MTS side without invasive monitoring. METHODS: We compared surgical outcome of all uMTS patients undergoing vEEG monitoring between January 1999 and April 2005 in our service. Discordant cases were defined by at least one seizure onset contralateral to the MRI evidence of MTS. Good surgical outcome was considered as Engel's class I. We also evaluated ictal SPECT concordance to ictal EEG and surgical outcome. RESULTS: Fifty-four patients had concordant (C) and 22 had discordant (D) scalp EEG and MRI. Surgical outcome was similar in both groups (C = 74% versus D = 86%). Duration of follow-up was comparable in both groups: C = 56.1 +/- 20.7 months versus D = 59.8 +/- 21.2 months (p = 0.83, nonsignificant). Discordant single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) results did not influence surgical outcome. DISCUSSION: Surgical outcome was not influenced by contralateral vEEG seizure onset or contralateral increased flow on ictal SPECT. Although vEEG monitoring should still be performed in these patients, to rule out psychogenic seizures and extratemporal seizure onset, a potentially risky procedure such as invasive monitoring may not only not be indicated in this patient population, but may also lead to patients erroneously being denied surgery.

Epilepsy syndromes associated with hypothalamic hamartomas.

PURPOSE: Hypothalamic hamartoma (HH) related epilepsy presents with gelastic seizures (GS), other seizure types and cognitive deterioration. Although seizure origin in GS has been well established, non-GS are poorly characterized. Their relationship with the HH and cognitive deterioration remains poorly understood. We analyzed seizure type, spread pattern in non-GS and their relationship with the epileptic syndrome in HH. METHODS: We documented all current seizure types in six adult patients with HH-epilepsy with video-EEG monitoring, characterized clinical-electrographic features of gelastic and non-gelastic seizures and correlated these findings with cognitive profile, as well as MRI and ictal SPECT data. RESULTS: Only four seizure types were seen: GS, complex partial (CPS), tonic seizures (TS) and secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures (sGTC). An individual patient presented either CPS or TS, but not both. GS progressed to CPS or TS, but not both. Ictal patterns in GS/TS and in GS/CPS overlapped, suggesting ictal spread from the HH to other cortical regions. Ictal SPECT patterns also showed GS/TS overlap. Patients with GS-CPS presented a more benign profile with preserved cognition and clinical-EEG features of temporal lobe epilepsy. Patients with GS-TS had clinical-EEG features of symptomatic generalized epilepsy, including mental deterioration. CONCLUSIONS: Video-EEG and ictal SPECT findings suggest that all seizures in HH-related epilepsy originate in the HH, with two clinical epilepsy syndromes: one resembling temporal lobe epilepsy and a more catastrophic syndrome, with features of a symptomatic generalized epilepsy. The epilepsy syndrome may be determined by HH size or by seizure spread pattern.

Contralateral interictal and ictal EEG epileptiform activity accentuate memory impairment in unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis patients.

OBJECTIVE: Memory impairment is a recognized complication of mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Epileptiform activity may negatively impact on cognition. We evaluated the impact of contralateral EEG involvement on memory in unilateral MTS (uMTS) patients. METHOD: Retrospective review of 121 right-handed uMTS patients (69 left) evaluated with prolonged video-EEG and verbal and nonverbal memory tests (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Rey-Osterrieth Complex figure), with additional very delayed trials. Patients were classified according to ictal/interictal EEG findings and MTS side as left or right concordant or discordant. Thirty-nine normal individuals who underwent the same neuropsychological battery served as controls. RESULTS: Demographic, disease, and treatment features did not differ among groups. On the 7-day verbal memory free recall, left discordant performed significantly worse than controls and right concordant, recognized fewer words, and had more recognition errors than all other groups, including left concordant. For nonverbal memory, right discordant performed significantly worse than controls on delayed recall, and attained lower scores than other groups on immediate and 7-day recall, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. Left discordant had higher scores of memory complaints than controls and disclosed a trend toward accentuated memory impairment compared with the other groups over time. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that contralateral electrographic involvement in uMTS was associated with more pronounced memory impairment for verbal material in left discordant patients, and to a lesser extent, for nonverbal material in right discordant patients. Left discordant group also had increased memory complaints. (PsycINFO Database Record

Corpus callosum diffusion abnormalities in refractory epilepsy associated with hippocampal sclerosis.

OBJECTIVES: To detect by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) the extent of microstructural integrity changes of the corpus callosum (CC) in patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and to evaluate possible association with clinical characteristics. METHODS: Fourty-two patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and HS and 30 control subjects were studied with DTI. We grouped patients according to lesion side (left or right) HS. Mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), radial (RD) and axial diffusivity (AD) were extracted from five segments in CC midsagittal section obtained by automatic segmentation. CC DTI findings were compared between groups. We also evaluated association of DTI changes and clinical characteristics. RESULTS: HS patients displayed decreased FA and increased MD and RD in the anterior, mid-posterior and posterior CC segments, compared to controls. No differences were observed in AD. Patients reporting febrile seizure as the initial precipitating event presented more intense diffusion changes. No differences were seen comparing left and right HS. Age at epilepsy onset, disease duration and seizure frequency were not associated with DTI findings. CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the largest series of TLE-HS patients evaluating CC white matter fiber integrity by DTI, which allowed us to study how some clinical characteristics, such as seizure frequency, disease duration and lesion side, are related to CC integrity. Occurrence of febrile seizure was the only factor that had significant impact on tract integrity. Diffusion changes were not restricted to the posterior part of the CC; we observed the same changes for the anterior part of the CC. Diffusion changes were characterized by an increase in RD, while the AD remained intact for all regions of the CC.

Contralateral ictal electrographic involvement is associated with decreased memory performance in unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of contralateral electrographic involvement on memory performance (measured by neuropsychological and Wada memory testing) in patients with epilepsy associated with unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). METHODS: We studied 51 patients with medically-refractory epilepsy associated with unilateral MTS (27 women, 30/51, left MTS) submitted to prolonged non-invasive video-EEG monitoring and bilateral Wada testing. According to ictal electrographic involvement, patients were classified as: Contralateral ictal involvement, when one or more seizures evolved with rhythmic activity in the temporal region contralateral to the MTS or exclusive ipsilateral ictal involvement if all seizures showed ictal EEG activity exclusively on the MTS side. Wada testing involved a twelve-item memory paradigm. Wada memory asymmetry score was calculated for each patient subtracting the number of recalled items after injection on the lesion side from the number of recalled items after contralateral injection. Expected asymmetry (EA) was considered if Wada memory asymmetry>0, and Symmetrical or Reversed memory asymmetry (S-RA) when ≤ 0. Neuropsychological testing was applied in the 51 patients and in 40 healthy controls. Verbal Memory was evaluated with the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), considering the number of recalled items on immediate recall after the initial five consecutive encoding trials (RAVLT 6), a post-interference delayed (30 min) recall (RAVLT 7), and recall after 7 days. Nonverbal memory was tested with Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III) Faces subtests 1 e 2. RESULTS: Groups did not differ in demographic, clinical and video-EEG monitoring variables. S-RA was observed more frequently in the group with contralateral ictal involvement (57.2% vs. 27.0%; p: 0.03). Logistic regression analysis considering demographic, clinical, hippocampal volume and video-EEG monitoring variables showed contralateral ictal involvement as the only independent variable associated with S-RA (coefficient=1.32, p=0.029, odds ratio 3.77; 95% CI 1.1-12.47). Additionally, the patient group with contralateral ictal EEG involvement displayed worse verbal and nonverbal memory scores compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSION: In this cohort of unilateral MTS patients, contralateral ictal involvement was associated with decreased memory performance on Wada and on neuropsychological testing.

Graph theoretical characterization and tracking of the effective neural connectivity during episodes of mesial temporal epileptic seizure.

Via a detailed case study of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, we show that a method of determining the direction of information flow among signals is able to provide focal localization via the simultaneous analysis of multiple EEG channels. This determination is accomplished by representing information flow direction via directed graphs, where focal electrodes are associated with high observed rates of pertinence to strongly connected subgraphs. Further clinical support to this finding is provided by results for an additional 9 cases of focal epilepsy cases. The graph theoretical approach is a tool for describing and analyzing the effective connectivity dynamics behind epileptic seizures and may provide a common language for studying other complex dynamic relationships between neural structures.

Bradicardia como manifestaçao epiléptica em epilepsia temporal: relato de caso / Bradycardia during temporal lobe seizure: case report

Descrevemos um caso de arritmia cardíaca como manifestaçao epiléptica. A monitorizaçao video-eletrencefalográfica de uma paciente com 34 anos de idade que apresentava episódios de perda de consciência permitiu a detecçao de períodos de assistolia como principal manifestaçao clínica, exigindo a implantaçao de marca-passo. O registro eletrencefalográfico concomitante mostrou atividade rítmica a 6-7 Hz de projeçao na regiao temporal esquerda. A ressonância magnética mostrou lesao expansiva no giro para-hipocampal esquerdo. Alteraçoes do ritmo cardíaco como taquicardia sinusal sao frequentes em crises epilépticas. A descriçao de bradicardia e/ou assistolia é rara. As conexoes das estruturas mesiais temporais com estruturas profundas como o hipotálamo devem ser responsáveis pelas manifestaçoes vegetativas durante crises epilépticas temporais

Alteraçöes sexuais na epilepsia: resultados de uma avaliaçäo multidisciplinar / Sexual disorders in epilepsy: results of a multidisciplinary evaluation

Onze pacientes do sexo masculino com epilepsia e queixa de alteração foram submetidos a avaliação multidisciplinar. A média de idade foi 27 anos (20-34), a duração média da epilepsia foi 19 anos (0,5-32) e a frequência média das crises foi duas por semana (0-7). Dez pacientes apresentavam crises parciais e um, mioclônicas. Dez pacientes recebiam drogas antiepilépticas (difenil-hidantoína - 1, carbamazepina - 8, clonazepam -3, clobazam -2, valproato -3, vigabatrina -1). Segundo os critérios do DSM III - R, as queixas foram disfunção erétil (9), redução da libido (4), froteurismo (4), inibição do orgasmo (3), ejaculação precoce (3), fetichismo (2), voyeurismo (2), exibicionismo (2), pedofilia (1) e aversão sexual (1). A avaliação endocrinológica mostrou hipogonadismo hipogonadotrófico em dois pacientes. A avaliação urológica revelou disfunção erétil orgânica em outros dois. Em um paciente a alteração sexual foi considerada psicogênica. Em seis pacientes não foi possível estabelecer diagnóstico etiológico definitivo. Este estudo mostra que a alteração da sexualidade na epilepsia é multifatorial e necessita de abordagem multidisciplinar.

Clinical and EEG analysis of mesial and lateral temporal lobe seizures

The analysis of the temporal lobe seizures through video-EEG systems shows that they often consist of a sequence of clinical and EEG features which may suggest the localization and the lateralization of the epileptogenic lobe. We analyzed clinical and EEG features of 50 temporal lobe seizures which were separated in group 1 with 25 patients (related to mesial temporal sclerosis) and group 2 with 25 patients (other neocortical temporal lesions). Among the auras, the epigastric type was the most frequent and predominated in group 1. There were differences between the two groups, considering dystonic and tonic posturing and versive head and eye movements. Dystonic posturing was always contralateral to the ictal onset and was considered the most useful lateralizing clinical feature. Ictal speech, spitting and blinking automatisms, prolonged disorientation for place and a greatest percentage of postictal language preservation occurred in right temporal seizures. Postictal aphasia and global disorientation predominated in left temporal seizures. EEG was important for lateralizing the epileptogenic lobe, specially considering rhythmic ictal activity and postictal findings.