Quality of life in patients with symptomatic epilepsy due to neurocysticercosis.

BACKGROUND: Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a common cause of late-onset epilepsy worldwide, but there is still minimal information regarding its impact on a patient's quality of life. This study evaluated quality of life in a series of patients with epilepsy secondary to NCC using the QOLIE (Quality of Life in Epilepsy)-31 questionnaire. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study included 155 Peruvian patients between 16 and 70 years of age with epilepsy due to viable intraparenchymal NCC, who enrolled in two trials of anti-parasitic treatment during the period 2006-2011. The QOLIE-31 questionnaire was applied before the onset of anti-parasitic treatment. The associations between QOLIE-31 scores, sociodemographic characteristics, clinical, and neuroimaging data were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis test and generalized linear models (GLM). RESULTS: The average QOLIE-31 score was 55.8 (SD ±â€¯7.6), with 119 individuals (76.8%) scoring in the poor quality-of-life category. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures and secondarily generalized epileptic seizures were associated with a lower QOLIE-31, as well as a low level of education with a value of p = 0.05. There were no associations between QOLIE-31 scores and other variables such as sex, age, antiepileptic medication, number of parasitic cysts, and number of compromised brain regions. On multivariate analysis, a greater number of generalized epileptic seizures maintained a statistically significant association with detrimental QOLIE-31 scores. CONCLUSION: Quality of life is affected in NCC, mainly in relation to the number of prior generalized epileptic seizures.

Estado epiléptico convulsivo en adultos atendidos en el Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Neurológicas de Lima, Perú 2011-2013. / Convulsive status epilepticus in adults attending the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Neurológicas in Lima, Perú 2011-2013.

Objetivos: describir las características clínicas y la evolución del estado epiléptico convulsivo (EEC) en pacientes adultos admitidos en el Servicio de Emergencia del Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Neurológicas de Lima, Perú entre los años 2011 y 2013. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio prospectivo de serie de casos. Resultados: Se incluyeron 28 pacientes mayores de 17 años, la mediana de edad fue 31 años. El 57% fueron hombres y el 89% tenían antecedentes de epilepsia. La principal causa del EEC fue el incumplimiento de la medicación antiepiléptica (54%). El diazepam seguido de la fenitoína fue el tratamiento antiepiléptico más empleado (75%) y la frecuencia de EEC refractario fue del 4%. Conclusiones: los pacientes fueron mayoritariamente varones, adultos jóvenes, con antecedentes de epilepsia que presentaron un EEC debido el incumplimiento de la medicación antiepiléptica y respondieron favorablemente al tratamiento con diazepam seguido de fenitoína.

Objectives: to describe the characteristics features and outcome of convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) in adult patients admitted to the Emergency Department at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Neurológicas in Lima, Peru between 2011 and 2013. Methods: a prospective study was conducted. Results: twenty-eight patients older than 17 years were included, the median age was 31 years old. 57% were male and 89% had a history of epilepsy. Main cause of CSE was antiepileptic medication noncompliance (54%). Diazepam followed by phenytoin was the most used therapeutic regimen (75%) and the frequency of refractory CSE was 4%. Conclusion: patients were mostly male, young adults with a history of epilepsy who presented a CSE caused by the antiepileptic medication noncompliance and the response to treatment based on diazepam followed by phenytoin was positive.