Subject-based assessment of large-scale integration dynamics in epileptic brain networks: insights from the intrinsic ignition framework.

This study examined the dynamic properties of brain regions involved in the genesis and spread of seizures in 10 individuals diagnosed with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy. The patients and 30 healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans and the brain's functional network dynamics were analyzed using the intrinsic ignition framework. Comparative statistical analyses examined the differences in the integration and metastability measures in both groups in the whole brain and specific local brain regions. Invasive electroencephalography evaluations validated the findings of significant global and regional changes in the patient's brain network dynamics. There was a marked increase in global integration and metastability across the brain, reflecting substantial alterations in the overall connectivity and flexibility of the functional networks. Specific brain regions exhibited paradoxical dynamics within the seizure onset zone, with decreased intrinsic ignition and increased metastability. Increased intrinsic ignition was observed in remote brain regions, suggesting a reorganization of the brain network hubs and potential pathways for seizure propagation. Using the intrinsic ignition framework provided insights into dynamic alterations in the brain networks of patients with epilepsy. These have increased our understanding of the mechanisms underlying epileptic seizures and may guide the development of diagnostic biomarkers and targeted therapeutic interventions.

Multimodal Approach for the Treatment of Complex Hypothalamic Hamartomas.

Hypothalamic hamartomas (HHs) are rare congenital lesions formed by heterotopic neuronal and glial cells attached to the mammillary bodies, tuber cinereum, and hypothalamus.They often present with an intractable epilepsy typically characterized by gelastic seizures but commonly associated with other types of refractory seizures. The clinical course is progressive in most of the cases, starting with gelastic seizures in infancy and deteriorating into complex seizure disorders that result in catastrophic epilepsy associated with cognitive decline and behavioral disturbances.Hamartomas are known to be intrinsically epileptogenic and the site of origin for the gelastic seizures. As antiepileptic drugs are typically ineffective in controlling HH-related epilepsy, different surgical options have been proposed as a treatment to achieve seizure control. Resection or complete disconnection of the hamartoma from the mammillothalamic tract has proved to achieve a long-lasting control of the epileptic syndrome.Usually, symptoms and their severity are typically related to the size, localization, and type of attachment. Precocious puberty appears mostly in the pedunculated type, while epileptic syndrome and behavioral decline are frequently related to the sessile type. For this reason, different classifications of HHs have been developed based on their size, extension, and type of attachment to the hypothalamus.The bigger and more complex hypothalamic hamartomas typically present with severe refractory epilepsy, behavioral disturbances, and progressive cognitive decline posing a formidable challenge for the control of these symptoms.We present here our experience with the multimodal treatment for complex hypothalamic hamartomas. After an in-depth review of the literature, we systematize our approach for the different types of hypothalamic hamartomas.

Extra-temporal pediatric low-grade gliomas and epilepsy.

Low-grade gliomas, especially glioneuronal tumors, are a common cause of epilepsy in children. Seizures associated with low-grade pediatric tumors are medically refractory and present a significant burden to patients. Often, morbidity and patients´ quality of life are determined rather by the control of seizures than the oncological process itself and the resolution of epilepsy represents an important part in the treatment of LGGs. The pathogenesis of tumor-related seizures in focal LGG tumors is multifactorial, and mechanisms differ probably among patients and tumor types. Pediatric low-grade tumors associated with epilepsy include a series of neoplasms that have a pure astrocytic or glioneuronal lineage. They are usually benign tumors with a neocortical localization typically in the temporal lobes, but also in other supratentorial locations. Gangliogliomas and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNET) are the most common entities together with astrocytic gliomas (pilocytic astrocytomas and pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma) and angiocentric gliomas, and dual pathology is found in up to 40% of glioneuronal tumors. The treatment of low-grade gliomas and associated epilepsy is based mainly on resection and the extent of surgery is the main predictor of postoperative seizure control in patients with a LGG. Long-term epilepsy-associated tumors (LEATs) tend to be well-circumscribed, and therefore, the chances for a complete resection and epilepsy control with a safe approach are very high. New treatments have emerged as alternatives to open microsurgical approaches, including laser thermal ablation or the use of BRAF inhibitors. Future advances in identifying seizure-related biomarkers and molecular tumor pathways will facilitate targeted treatment strategies that will have a deep impact both in oncologic and epilepsy outcomes.

Assessing the coupling between local neural activity and global connectivity fluctuations: Application to human intracranial electroencephalography during a cognitive task.

Cognitive-relevant information is processed by different brain areas that cooperate to eventually produce a response. The relationship between local activity and global brain states during such processes, however, remains for the most part unexplored. To address this question, we designed a simple face-recognition task performed in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy and monitored with intracranial electroencephalography (EEG). Based on our observations, we developed a novel analytical framework (named "local-global" framework) to statistically correlate the brain activity in every recorded gray-matter region with the widespread connectivity fluctuations as proxy to identify concurrent local activations and global brain phenomena that may plausibly reflect a common functional network during cognition. The application of the local-global framework to the data from three subjects showed that similar connectivity fluctuations found across patients were mainly coupled to the local activity of brain areas involved in face information processing. In particular, our findings provide preliminary evidence that the reported global measures might be a novel signature of functional brain activity reorganization when a stimulus is processed in a task context regardless of the specific recorded areas.

Psychiatric and psychological assessment of Spanish patients with drug-resistant epilepsy and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) with no response to previous treatments.

OBJECTIVE: Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are common imitators of epileptic seizures. Refractoriness to antiseizure medication hinders the differential diagnosis between ES and PNES, carrying deleterious consequences in patients with PNES. Psychiatric and psychological characteristics may assist in the differential diagnosis between drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) and PNES. Nevertheless, current comprehensive psychiatric and psychological descriptive studies on both patient groups are scarce and with several study limitations. This study provides a comprehensive psychiatric and psychological characterization of Spanish patients with DRE and PNES. METHOD: A cross-sectional and comparative study was completed with 104 patients with DRE and 21 with PNES. Psychiatric and psychological characteristics were assessed with the HADS, SCL-90-R, NEO-FFI-R, PDQ-4+, COPE, and QOLIE-31 tests. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used, and regression models were fit to further explore factors affecting patients' life quality. RESULTS: Patients with PNES had greater levels of somatization and extraversion and were associated with benzodiazepine intake. Patients with DRE showed greater narcissistic personality disorder symptoms than those with PNES. In patients with DRE, difficulty in performing basic needs-related tasks and greater psychological distress severity and seizure frequency were associated with poorer life quality. In contrast, being a woman, having a psychiatric disorder history, and greater psychiatric symptoms' intensity were associated with poorer life quality in patients with PNES. CONCLUSION: Patients with DRE and PNES share similar psychiatric and psychological characteristics, with only very few being significantly different.

How I do it - asleep DBS placement for Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, functional neurosurgery relied in stereotactic atlases and intraoperative micro-registration in awake patients for electrode placement in Parkinson's disease. Cumulative experience on target description, refinement of MRI, and advances in intraoperative imaging has enabled accurate preoperative planning and its implementation with the patient under general anaesthesia. METHODS: Stepwise description, emphasising preoperative planning, and intraoperative imaging verification, for transition to asleep-DBS surgery. CONCLUSION: Direct targeting relies on MRI anatomic landmarks and accounts for interpersonal variability. Indeed, the asleep procedure precludes patient distress. A particular complication to avoid is pneumocephalus; it can lead to brain-shift and potential deviation of electrode trajectory.

Deep brain stimulation as a palliative treatment for myorhythmia: A case of failure.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Myorhythmia is a hyperkinetic movement disorder that derives from a disruption of the Guillain-Mollaret triangle, due to an identifiable structural lesion. It is often disabling and with disappointing control under medical treatment. METHODS: Herein, a case of myorhythmia secondary to a vascular insult in the brainstem is reported and an unsuccessful attempt to palliate it with functional neurosurgery. RESULTS: A 67-year-old man displayed a repetitive, rhythmic, slow 2-3 Hz movement, 6 months after suffering a pontomesencephalic hypertensive haematoma. The kinetic phenomenon affected the orbicular and low facial muscles, the neck, the thorax and the upper limbs. Furthermore, he exhibited tremor of the soft palate and pendular nystagmus. On T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, hypertrophic degeneration of the inferior olivary complex was seen. He was diagnosed with secondary myorhythmia and multiple pharmacological treatments were tested, but failed. Ultimately, deep brain stimulation with bilateral electrodes placed in the thalamic ventralis intermedius nucleus was offered. Unfortunately, no alleviation of the symptoms was achieved other than mild improvement in involuntary eye movements. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first case to report the use of deep brain stimulation for myorhythmia. Better understanding of the pathophysiology of this condition, and localization of the pacemaker, may allow identification of reliable neurosurgical therapeutic targets.

Psychiatric disorders in patients with resistant temporal lobe epilepsy two years after undergoing elective surgery. A longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: Psychiatric morbidity in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is frequent and negatively affects patients' life quality. Surgery is the procedure of choice when treating seizures, although the effects on psychiatric disorders remain unclear. We evaluate the effect of surgery on psychiatric disorders in patients with TLE two years after the intervention, to then shed light on how these are related to anxiety and depression symptoms, and Interictal Dysphoric Disorder (IDD). METHODS: We included data from 65 patients with TLE whose psychiatric evaluations were performed according to DSM-IV criteria. Anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) test. RESULTS: At 2-year follow-up, anxiety and depressive disorders decreased, and psychotic disorders augmented without statistical significance. Baseline psychiatric disorders predisposed to psychiatric pathology at 2-year follow-up and did not correlate with epilepsy outcome after surgery. Postoperative psychiatric disorders correlated with the seizure incidence two years after the intervention, suggesting that epilepsy and psychiatric disorders were associated in processes such as surgery. De novo psychiatric disorders represented 52% of postoperative psychiatric pathology, 62% being psychotic disorders. De novo psychiatric disorders became more frequent from the first year of surgery, occurring mainly in patients free of seizures. The HADS test scores and IDD correlated with psychiatric disorders at 2-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Baseline psychiatric disorders did not influence surgery outcome, but correlated with psychiatric disorders' prevalence two years after surgery. Despite not finding statistical significance, surgery reduced the prevalence of psychiatric disorders, and de novo psychiatric disorders were associated with an improvement in the epilepsy course at 2-year follow-up.

Beyond the Epileptic Focus: Functional Epileptic Networks in Focal Epilepsy.

Focal epilepsy can be conceptualized as a network disorder, and the functional epileptic network can be described as a complex system of multiple brain areas that interact dynamically to generate epileptic activity. However, we still do not fully understand the functional architecture of epileptic networks. We studied a cohort of 21 patients with extratemporal focal epilepsy. We used independent component analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. In order to identify the epilepsy-related components, we examined the general linear model-derived electroencephalography-fMRI (EEG-fMRI) time courses associated with interictal epileptic activity as intrinsic hemodynamic epileptic biomarkers. Independent component analysis revealed components related to the epileptic time courses in all 21 patients. Each epilepsy-related component described a network of spatially distributed brain areas that corresponded to the specific epileptic network in each patient. We also provided evidence for the interaction between the epileptic activity generated at the epileptic network and the physiological resting state networks. Our findings suggest that independent component analysis, guided by EEG-fMRI epileptic time courses, have the potential to define the functional architecture of the epileptic network in a noninvasive way. These data could be useful in planning invasive EEG electrode placement, guiding surgical resections, and more effective therapeutic interventions.

Unilateral pallidal stimulation for disabling dystonia due to Rasmussen's disease.

OBJECTIVE: To describe an adult patient with Rasmussen's disease with focal dystonia as the most disabling symptom and the good response to unilateral globus pallidus internus (GPi) deep brain stimulation (DBS). METHODS: Retrospective review of clinical records and diagnostic tests. RESULTS: The patient had displayedmild focal seizures with sensory and motor symptoms on the left arm and hemiface since the age of 22. Ten years later she experienced abrupt onset of focal left dystonia involving mainly the leg. Brain MRI showed progressive right hemisphere atrophy, and  18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (18FDG-PET) showed right hypometabolism mainly over the frontal and insular regions. Brain biopsy confirmed chronic encephalitis. The dystonia became very severe and made walking extremely difficult. Different treatments including dopaminergic, anticholinergic, immunomodulatory drugs and botulinum toxin were ineffective. Finally the patient was treated with unilateral GPi DBS. Shortly after the onset of the stimulation, the dystonia started to improve. Parameters have been adjusted, and 18 months after surgery the patient is able to walk and run unaided, although a mild left leg dystonia persists. CONCLUSION: Rasmussen's disease may be difficult to diagnose in adult patients. Associated movement disorders may be more disabling than seizures. Focal dystonia may be treated successfully with DBS.

Single-Center Complication Analysis Associated with Surgical Replacement of Implantable Pulse Generators in Deep Brain Stimulation.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Internal pulse generator (IPG) replacement is considered a relatively minor surgery but exposes the deep brain stimulation system to the risk of infectious and mechanical adverse events. We retrospectively reviewed complications associated with IPG replacement surgery in our center and reviewed the most relevant publications on the issue. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of all the IPG replacements performed in our center from January 2003 until March 2018 was performed. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk factors associated with IPG infections at our center. RESULTS: A total of 171 IPG replacements in 93 patients were analyzed. The overall rate of replacement complications was 8.8%, whereas the rate of infection was 5.8%. IPG removal was required in 8 out of 10 infected cases. An increased risk of infection was found in patients with subcutaneous thoracic placement of the IPG (OR 5.3, p = 0.016). The most commonly isolated germ was Staphylococcus coagulase negative (60%). We found a non-significant trend towards increased risk of infection in patients with more than 3 replacements (p = 0.07). CONCLUSIONS: Infection is the most frequent complication related to IPG replacement. Staphylococcus coagulase negative is the most commonly isolated bacteria causing the infection. According to our results, the subcutaneous thoracic placement represents a greater risk of infection compared to subcutaneous abdominal placement.

PISCOM: a new procedure for epilepsy combining ictal SPECT and interictal PET.

PURPOSE: We present a modified version of the SISCOM procedure that uses interictal PET instead of interictal SPECT for seizure onset zone localization. We called this new nuclear imaging processing technique PISCOM (PET interictal subtracted ictal SPECT coregistered with MRI). METHODS: We retrospectively studied 23 patients (age range 4-61 years) with medically refractory epilepsy who had undergone MRI, ictal SPECT, interictal SPECT and interictal FDG PET and who had been seizure-free for at least 2 years after surgical treatment. FDG PET images were reprocessed (rFDG PET) to assimilate SPECT features for image subtraction. Interictal SPECT and rFDG PET were compared using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). PISCOM and SISCOM images were evaluated visually and using an automated volume of interest-based analysis. The results of the two studies were compared with each other and with the known surgical resection site. RESULTS: SPM showed no significant differences in cortical activity between SPECT and rFDG PET images. PISCOM and SISCOM showed equivalent results in 17 of 23 patients (74%). The seizure onset zone was successfully identified in 19 patients (83%) by PISCOM and in 17 (74%) by SISCOM: in 15 patients (65%) the two techniques showed concordant successful results. The volume of interest-based analysis showed no significant differences between PISCOM and SISCOM in identifying the extension of the seizure onset zone. However, PISCOM showed a lower amount of indeterminate activity due to propagation, background or artefacts. CONCLUSION: Preliminary findings of this initial proof-of-concept study suggest that perfusion and glucose metabolism in the cerebral cortex can be correlated and that PISCOM may be a valid technique for identification of the seizure onset zone. However, further studies are needed to validate these results.

Frameless robot-assisted stereoelectroencephalography for refractory epilepsy in pediatric patients: accuracy, usefulness, and technical issues.

BACKGROUND: Stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) is an effective technique to help to locate and to delimit the epileptogenic area and/or to define relationships with functional cortical areas. We intend to describe the surgical technique and verify the accuracy, safety, and effectiveness of robot-assisted SEEG in a newly created SEEG program in a pediatric center. We focus on the technical difficulties encountered at the early stages of this program. METHODS: We prospectively collected SEEG indication, intraoperative events, accuracy calculated by fusion of postoperative CT with preoperative planning, complications, and usefulness of SEEG in terms of answering preimplantation hypothesis. RESULTS: Fourteen patients between the ages of 5 and 18 years old (mean 10 years) with drug-resistant epilepsy were operated on between April 2016 and April 2018. One hundred sixty-four electrodes were implanted in total. The median entry point localization error (EPLE) was 1.57 mm (1-2.25 mm) and the median target point localization error (TPLE) was 1.77 mm (1.2-2.6 mm). We recorded seven intraoperative technical issues. Two patients suffered complications: meningitis without demonstrated germ in one patient and a right frontal hematoma in the other. In all cases, the SEEG was useful for the therapeutic decision-making. CONCLUSION: SEEG has been useful for decision-making in all our pediatric patients. The robotic arm is an accurate tool for the insertion of the deep electrodes. Nevertheless, it is an invasive technique not risk-free and many problems can appear at the beginning of a robotic arm-assisted SEEG program that must be taken into account beforehand.

A prospective study contrasting the psychiatric outcome in drug-resistant epilepsy between patients who underwent surgery and a control group.

OBJECTIVE: Psychiatric morbidity in drug-resistant epilepsy is frequent and has a negative influence on quality of life. Surgery is proven to be the best therapeutic alternative for treating seizures. However, it is inconclusive with the current evidence whether surgery, per se, is a risk factor or promotes amelioration of psychiatric disorders. Until now, most studies have been cross-sectional with small or heterogeneous groups. In addition, the few prospective studies did not have an identical control group. The present study aims to clarify the role of surgery in psychopathologic alterations. METHODS: We analyzed, through a prospective case-control study, the psychopathologic outcomes of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, comparing those who underwent surgery and those who continued with pharmacologic treatment due to not being suitable for surgery. The assessments were performed during presurgical evaluation and 6 months after surgery. We studied psychiatric changes for each group, compared differences between groups, and also analyzed de novo and remission cases. Finally, we determined associated factors for postsurgical psychiatric disturbances. RESULTS: The surgical group experienced a significant decrease in psychopathologic alterations in comparison with the control group. In addition, distress perception of surgical patients also improved, whereas it did not decrease in the control group. Patients who underwent surgery presented a decrease in depressive and anxiety symptoms, whereas the nonsurgical group increased its anxiety levels. De novo disturbances that appeared after surgery were less frequent than in nonsurgical patients. We observed significant favorable outcomes considering de novo versus remission cases for anxiety, depression, and total symptoms only in the surgical group. The two main predictors for psychiatric disorders after surgery were presurgical psychiatric functioning and surgery. SIGNIFICANCE: Provides evidence that surgery improves psychiatric functioning in drug-resistant epilepsy through a prospective controlled study.

Seizure-onset zone localization by statistical parametric mapping in visually normal (18) F-FDG PET studies.

OBJECTIVE: Neuroimaging is crucial in the presurgical evaluation of patients with medically refractory epilepsy. To improve the moderate sensitivity of [(18) F]fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography ((18) F-FDG-PET), our aim was to evaluate the usefulness of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) to localize the seizure-onset zone (SOZ) in PET studies deemed normal by visual assessment. METHODS: Fifty-five patients with medically refractory epilepsy whose (18) F-FDG-PET was visually evaluated as normal were retrospectively included. Twenty of these patients had undergone surgical intervention. PET images were analyzed by SPM8 using a corrected p-value of p < 0.05 and three uncorrected p-values of p < 0.0001, p < 0.001, and p < 0.005, matched with minimum cluster sizes of k > 0, k > 20, k > 100, and k > 200, respectively. The SPM-identified potential seizure zone (SZ) was compared to the SOZ, which was determined by consensus during patient management meetings in the epilepsy unit, taking into account presurgical tests. Studies in which the SPM-identified potential SZ was concordant with the SOZ were considered "correctly localizing." RESULTS: The SPM threshold combination with the least restrictive p-value and greatest minimum cluster size achieved the highest rate of correctly localizing studies. When p < 0.005/k > 200 was used, 40% (22/55) of studies were correctly localizing, and the concordance obtained in the surgically intervened subgroup was substantial (к = 0.607, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.258-0.957), which was comparable to the concordance obtained by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (к = 0.783, 95% CI 0.509-1.000). SIGNIFICANCE: SPM offers improved SOZ localization in (18) F-FDG-PET studies that are negative on visual assessment. For this purpose, statistical parametric maps could be thresholded with liberal p-values and restrictive cluster sizes.

[Stereoelectroencephalography by using O-Arm® and Vertek® passive articulated arm: Technical note and experience of an epilepsy referral centre]. / Estereoelectroencefalografía mediante el uso de O-Arm® y brazo articulado pasivo Vertek®: nota técnica y experiencia de un centro de referencia de epilepsia.

OBJECTIVE: To report a novel, accurate, and safe technique for deep brain electrode implantation to register brain electrical activity or SEEG, using frameless stereotaxy, neuronavigation assisted, and intraoperative CT-guided O-Arm® and the Vertek® articulated passive arm. MATERIAL AND METHODS: All patients implanted by this technique in Barcelona Hospital Clinic were included. A prospective evaluation was made of the accuracy of the technique, as well as complications, surgical time, length of stay, and short-term outcomes. RESULTS: The study included 10 patients that underwent this procedure. The mean age was 38 years, and 60% were women. A mean of 6.9 (3-10) electrodes/patient, with a total of 69 electrodes, were implanted. The mean time for implantation was 34.7minutes per electrode. The mean distance between the planned target and the final target was 1.39 millimetres (0.95-1.7). There were no surgically derived complications. The epileptogenic zone was determined in 6 cases (60%). Surgical resection was performed in 5 cases (50%), with thermocoagulation in 3 (30%) cases, and in 2 cases (20%) there was no treatment. At a six-month follow-up of the 8 treated cases, 37.5% were ELAI I, 12.5% ELAI III, 25% ELAI IV, and 25% ELAI V. CONCLUSIONS: The implantation of deep brain electrodes for SEEG by using intraoperative CT O-Arm® and the Vertek® articulated passive arm is a safe and effective technique with adequate accuracy.

Experience with "Fast track" postoperative care after deep brain stimulation surgery.

BACKGROUND: A 24-h-stay in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) is a common postoperative procedure after deep brain stimulation surgery (DBS). OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the impact of a fast-track (FT) postoperative care protocol. METHODS: An analysis was performed on all patients who underwent DBS in 2 periods: 2006, overnight monitored care (OMC group), and 2007-2013, FT care (FT group). RESULTS: The study included 19 patients in OMC and 95 patients in FT. Intraoperative complications occurred in 26.3% patients in OMC vs. 35.8% in FT. Post-operatively, one patient in OMC developed hemiparesis, and agitation in 2 patients. In FT, two patients with intraoperative hemiparesis were transferred to the ICU. While on the ward, 3 patients from the FT developed hemiparesis, two of them 48h after the procedure. Thirty eight percent of FT had an MRI scan, while the remaining 62% and all patients of OMC had a CT-scan performed on their transfer to the ward. One patient in OMC had a subthalamic hematoma. Two patients in FT had a pallidal hematoma, and 3 a bleeding along the electrode. CONCLUSIONS: A FT discharge protocol is a safe postoperative care after DBS. There are a small percentage of complications after DBS, which mainly occur within the first 6h.

Design and validation of a diagnostic suspicion checklist to differentiate epileptic from psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES-DSC).

OBJECTIVE: Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are complex clinical manifestations and misdiagnosis as status epilepticus remains high, entailing deleterious consequences for patients. Video-electroencephalography (vEEG) remains the gold-standard method for diagnosing PNES. However, time and economic constraints limit access to vEEG, and clinicians lack fast and reliable screening tools to assist in the differential diagnosis with epileptic seizures (ES). This study aimed to design and validate the PNES-DSC, a clinically based PNES diagnostic suspicion checklist with adequate sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp) to discriminate PNES from ES. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with 125 patients (n = 104 drug-resistant epilepsy; n = 21 PNES) admitted for a vEEG protocolised study of seizures. A preliminary PNES-DSC (16-item) was designed and used by expert raters blinded to the definitive diagnosis to evaluate the seizure video recordings for each patient. Cohen's kappa coefficient, leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and balance accuracy (BAC) comprised the main validation analysis. RESULTS: The final PNES-DSC is a 6-item checklist that requires only two to be present to confirm the suspicion of PNES. The LOOCV showed 71.4% BAC (Se = 45.2%; Sp = 97.6%) when the expert rater watched one seizure video recording and 83.4% BAC (Se = 69.6%; Sp = 97.2%) when the expert rater watched two seizure video recordings. CONCLUSION: The PNES-DSC is a straightforward checklist with adequate psychometric properties. With an integrative approach and appropriate patient history, the PNES-DSC can assist clinicians in expediting the final diagnosis of PNES when vEEG is limited. The PNES-DSC can also be used in the absence of patients, allowing clinicians to assess seizure recordings from smartphones.

Image-guided programming deep brain stimulation improves clinical outcomes in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective treatment for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, some patients may not respond optimally to clinical programming adjustments. Advances in DBS technology have led to more complex and time-consuming programming. Image-guided programming (IGP) could optimize and improve programming leading to better clinical outcomes in patients for whom DBS programming is not ideal due to sub-optimal response. We conducted a prospective single-center study including 31 PD patients with subthalamic nucleus (STN) DBS and suboptimal responses refractory to clinical programming. Programming settings were adjusted according to the volumetric reconstruction of the stimulation field using commercial postoperative imaging software. Clinical outcomes were assessed at baseline and at 3-month follow-up after IGP, using motor and quality of life (QoL) scales. Additionally, between these two assessment points, follow-up visits for fine-tuning amplitude intensity and medication were conducted at weeks 2, 4, 6, and 9. After IGP, twenty-six patients (83.9%) experienced motor and QoL improvements, with 25.8% feeling much better and 38.7% feeling moderately better according to the patient global impression scale. Five patients (16.1%) had no clinical or QoL changes after IGP. The MDS-UPDRS III motor scale showed a 21.9% improvement and the DBS-IS global score improved by 41.5%. IGP optimizes STN-DBS therapy for PD patients who are experiencing suboptimal clinical outcomes. These findings support using IGP as a standard tool in clinical practice, which could save programming time and improve patients' QoL.