FDA Approves ONFI™ (clobazam)
“As an epileptologist treating patients with a variety of challenging seizure disorders, I’m aware of the need for new add-on therapies to address the severe and frequent seizures associated with LGS,” said Joan A. Conry, MD, professor of neurology at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a principal investigator of the CONTAIN Trial. “Clobazam, now approved as ONFI, was shown to be effective as adjunctive therapy for reducing seizures associated with LGS,1 and its upcoming availability provides hope for additional seizure management to patients and their physicians, caregivers and families.”
read moreCan Transplanted Neuronal Progenitor Cells Develop into Functioning Neurons
Epilepsy research is reaching beyond improving the means for quelling symptoms to the exploration of potential modalities for correcting or reversing alterations in neural function that underlay some forms of the disorder. In research reported at the 64th American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting, investigators at the University of Florida have demonstrated that adult human neuronal progenitor cells (AHNPs) generate functional neurons that integrate into host neuronal networks in the cerebral cortex.
read moreClinical Trials in Children with Intractable Epilepsy
Clinical trials are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions (e.g., drugs, diagnostics, devices, therapy protocols). These trials can take place only after satisfactory information has been gathered on the quality of the non-clinical safety, and Health Authority/Ethics Committee approval is granted in the country where the trial is taking place.
read moreNew ICE Terminology from ILAE
The ILAE has recently updated their classification of the epilepsy syndromes. The definitions they have listed on their website pertaining to "disease" and "syndrome" and "electro-clinical syndrome" are below: www.ilae-epilepsy.org
read moreSudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy
The definition of SUDEP is “sudden, unexpected, witnessed or unwitnessed, non-traumatic and non-drowning death in epilepsy, with or without evidence for a seizure and excluding documented status epilepticus, in which postmortem examination does not show toxicological or anatomical cause for death.”
read moreComorbidities of Intractable Childhood Epilepsy
In addition to seizures, children with intractable epilepsy often have a lowered IQ, and real problems with learning and memory. They may also have significant psychosocial problems, some of them related to the anticonvulsant drugs. People who work with these children must learn patience, and try to evolve new strategies for the promotion of learning. These people need sympathy and support. Intractable epilepsy is a true – if invisible – disability.
read moreOrthotics for Intractable Epilepsy
Although orthotics are mentioned in many books available to families and professionals, there are few magazine articles or newspaper stories that mention these commonly used shoe inserts that do make a difference to children with epilepsy that also have low muscle tone or an abnormal gait or teens who have pain or discomfort due to walking differently during early childhood and beyond.
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