Video-EEG monitoring in patients with hippocampal atrophy.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the value of ictal EEG recordings in patients with unilateral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-identified hippocampal atrophy and concordant interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The ictal EEG patterns in 84 patients with pharmaco resistant epilepsy undergoing an anterior temporal lobectomy between 1992 and 1995 were reviewed. The concordance between the ictal EEG and MRI and the IEDs was examined. RESULTS: Two-hundred-and-thirty seizures (76.4%) were concordant and 11 seizures (3.7%) were discordant with the atrophic temporal lobe. Sixty seizures (19.9%) were indeterminate in localization. Sixty-three of the 69 patients (91.3%) with confirmatory and 14 of the 15 patients (93%) with non-confirmatory ictal EEG recordings, respectively, experienced an excellent operative outcome (P=0.629, Fisher's exact test). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with unilateral hippocampal atrophy and concordant IEDs are excellent surgical candidates even when video-EEG monitoring shows discordant or non-localizing seizures.

Radiation inhibition of mdx mouse muscle regeneration: dose and age factors.

A single hind limb was irradiated with 12, 18, 24, or 30 Gy in mdx and C57 mice aged 12, 21, or 42 days to determine regeneration inhibition dose-response curves in different aged dystrophic mice and to characterize radiation side-effects in normal mice. The anterior tibial muscle mass (8 weeks postirradiation) and percent central nucleated (i.e., regenerated) muscle fibers were measures of regeneration inhibition. Twenty-one-day-old mdx mice irradiated with 18 Gy had complete inhibition of muscle regeneration, but 30 Gy only partially blocked regeneration in mdx mice irradiated at 12 and 42 days in age. In working to produce a clinically relevant model for Duchenne dystrophy, it is crucial to regard mouse age as a major factor in determining radiation effects on mdx muscle regeneration.