• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.571-578
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• 2010

Purpose : To evaluate the efficacy and safety of levetiracetam adjunctive therapy for reducing the rate of seizure frequency in children with intractable pediatric epilepsy. Methods : We reviewed the medical records of 86 patients with intractable pediatric epilepsy who visited our hospital between March 1989 and February 2009. Levetiracetam was included in the previous anticonvulsant regimen for at least 6 months and the reduction in the rate of seizure frequency was determined in follow-up examinations. We analyzed demographic data, seizure types, antiepileptic drug history, levetiracetam dose, adverse effects of levetiracetam therapy, treatment outcome, electroencephalogram findings, etc. Results : More than 50% reduction in the seizure frequency was observed in 62 of the 86 (72.1%) patients; 44 patients (51.1%) became seizure free, while the seizure frequency increased in 5.8% patients. The associations between seizure reduction rate and age, associated diseases, seizure types, and seizure frequency before treatment were not significant. However, the duration of disease, dose of levetiracetam, duration and frequency of anticonvulsant administration before levetiracetam therapy were significantly correlated. Electroencephalogram findings and the cause of epilepsy showed partial correlation. Forty (46%) patients showed adverse symptoms; the symptoms in the order of their frequency were somnolence, hyperactivity, irritability, aggressiveness, tiredness, etc. Conclusion : The findings of our study provide the evidence that levetiracetam adjunctive therapy is efficacious and well tolerated in various refractory childhood epilepsy cases.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.189-203
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• 2007

Objectives The prognosis, recurrence rate and treatment of febrile seizure were studied through the research of recent western medicine and Chinese oriental medicine paper. Methods Recent western medicine paper of internal and external and chinese oriental medicine paper from 1999 to 2007 were investigated. Results and Conclusions The prognosis of febrile seizure was good in most cases, but children with febrile seizure who developed epilepsy range between 2 and 10%. The risk factors developed epilepsy including complex febrile seizure, focal and prolonged seizure, pre-existing neurodevelopmental abnormalities and recurrent febrile seizure. Recurrence rate of febrile seizure ranges between 30 and 50% was high. The risk factors can be predicted by their age at first febrile seizure happened, family medical history of febrile seizure and epilepsy, complex febrile seizure, and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. However, the most important factor of those is the age when they have first febrile seizure. Diazepam or Lorazepam was administrated for a child with prolonged seizure but only Diazepam was used for reducing recurrence of febrile seizurein febrile illness. However, there were some side effects such as lethargy, ataxia, and irritability. The study of chinese oriental medicine demonstrates that the acupuncture and venesection were used for seizure attack and reduced of recurrences and second attack. To reduce recurrence of febrile seizure, herbal medicine was also used for febrile illness or after seizure attack within a certain period of time, so reduce the recurrence, frequency of seizure and febrile illness. The most of herbs in prescription were used for removing heat and toxic meterials(淸熱解毒), extinguishing wind and to stopping the convulsion(熄風止痙)

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.150-154
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the etiological distribution, therapeutic outcome, and survival time in canine epilepsy. The medical records of 57 epileptic dogs were reviewed for the evaluation of etiological distribution. Among them, 27 dogs (47%) and 30 dogs (52%) had idiopathic epilepsy (IdE) and structural epilepsy (StE), respectively. Twenty-nine dogs (IdE: 16 dogs, StE: 13 dogs) were evaluated for therapeutic outcome and survival time. The incidence of generalized epileptic seizure (IdE, 56% vs. StE, 44%; P = 0.043) and the median seizure frequency at the time of first presentation (IdE, 2.0/month vs. StE, 13.3/month; P < 0.01) were significantly different between the two groups. Although pre-treatment seizure frequency and duration were not different, the median duration of seizure in the IdE group (0.5 min) was significantly shorter than that in the StE group (3 min) after treatment (P < 0.01). In addition, the median frequency of seizure was relatively lower in the IdE group (0.25/month) compared to the StE group (2.00/month) following antiepileptic therapy (P = 0.053). The median survival time of the IdE group (1.5 years [95% CI, 1.0-2.3 years]) was significantly longer than that of the StE group (0.4 year [95% CI, 0.2-1.3 years]) (P < 0.01). The information on etiological data and intracranial lesions may be useful for predicting treatment response and prognosis in epileptic dogs.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.61-68
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• 2016

Objectives The purpose of this study is to report a case of one infant patient diagnosed as Sik-Gan (食癎) who was treated by Korean medical treatment. Methods We diagnosed an infant patient as Sik-Gan (食癎) and treated him with herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxa and chuna therapy while correcting his eating habit. To measure the degree of the patient's progress, the frequency and exact symptoms of seizure events, and gastrointestinal symptoms were recorded. Results Korean medical treatment reduced the patient's the frequency of seizure, and improved gastrointestinal symptoms. Conclusions A patient who has past medical history of epileptic seizures, unhealthy eating habits and gastrointestinal malfunctions is prone to have a specific form of seizure called the Sik-Gan (食癎). In this report, we have proven that variety of Korean medical treatment can considerably be effective in preventing recurring seizure events and improving the patients' gastrointestinal symptoms.

• CELLMED
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.29.1-29.11
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• 2013

Certain dietary contents, biological supplements might influence the occurrence or treatment of epilepsy. Some studies have found that the supplementation with individual nutrients reduced seizure frequency or improved other aspects of health in patients with epilepsy. Potentially beneficial dietary interventions include treating blood glucose dysregulations. Identifying and avoiding allergenic foods, and avoiding suspected triggering agents such as alcohol, aspartame, and monosodium glutamate. The Atkins diet (very low in carbohydrates) is a less restrictive type diet that may be effective in some cases. Nutrients that may reduce seizure frequency include vitamin B6, magnesium, vitamin E, manganese, taurine, dimethylglycine, and omega-3 fatty acids. Administration of thiamine may improve cognitive function in patients with epilepsy. Supplementation with folic acid, vitamin B6, biotin, vitamin D, and L-carnitine may be needed to prevent or treat deficiencies resulting from the use of anticonvulsant drugs. Vitamin K1 has been recommended near the end of pregnancy for women taking anticonvulsants. Melatonin may reduce seizure frequency in some cases, and progesterone may be useful for women with cyclic exacerbations of seizures. In most cases, nutritional therapy is not a substitute for anticonvulsant medications. However, in selected cases, depending on the effectiveness of the interventions, dosage reductions or discontinuation of medications may be possible. However, nutrient supplementation may be necessary to prevent or reverse the effects of certain deficiencies that frequently result from the use of antiepileptic drugs.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2006

Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) has been proposed as a possible way to improve the control of refractory epilepsy. We report the effects following VNS treatment in patients with refractory epilepsy. Seventeen patients with a mean age of 12.8 years, ranging from 5 to 29 years, underwent the implantation of vagal nerve stimulation (Cyberonics, Houston, TX). We reviewed the clinical findings before and after VNS in seizure frequency, number of antiepileptic drugs (AED), and quality of life (QOL). All of the patients had intractable seizures, eleven of the patients had additional medical complications, three had hippocampus atrophy, one had encephalomalacia, five had encephalitis, one had pachygyria, and one had schizencephaly. Thirteen patients had symptomatic partial epilepsies, three patients had Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and one had cryptogenic partial epilepsy. The mean follow up duration was 35 months. The mean reduction of seizure frequency compared with baseline before VNS was 26.1% after 3 months (p<0.005), 41.9% after 6 months (p<0.001), 46.9% after 1 year (p<0.001), and 53% at the latest follow-up (p<0.001). Twelve patients showed an improvement of QOL such as mood, language, alertness, expression, and motor function. The most common side effects were transient hoarseness or voice change or cough, which was detected in six patients (35%) and wound infection in one patient (5%). This study has shown a good anti-seizure effect of VNS, decrease in seizure frequency and improvements in QOL. We concluded that VNS is a beneficial therapy in refractory epilepsy with a non-resectable epileptic focus. Further studies should be focused on the prediction of unresponsiveness and the adjustment of VNS parameters for maximum efficacy in patients with various medical histories.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.169-176
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• 2015

Implantable closed-loop epilepsy controllers require ideally both accurate epileptic seizure detection and low power consumption. On-chip oscillators can be used in implantable devices because they consume less power than other oscillators such as crystal oscillators. In this study, we investigated the tolerable error range of a lower power on-chip oscillator without losing the accuracy of seizure detection. We used 24 ictal and 14 interictal intracranial electroencephalographic segments recorded from epilepsy surgery patients. The performance variations with respect to oscillator frequency errors were estimated in terms of specificity, modified sensitivity, and detection timing difference of seizure onset using Generic Osorio Frei Algorithm. The frequency errors of on-chip oscillators were set at ${\pm}10%$ as the worst case. Our results showed that an oscillator error of ${\pm}10%$ affected both specificity and modified sensitivity by less than 3%. In addition, seizure onsets were detected with errors earlier or later than without errors and the average detection timing difference varied within less than 0.5 s range. The results suggest that on-chip oscillators could be useful for low-power implantable devices without error compensation circuitry requiring significant additional power. These findings could help the design of closed-loop systems with a seizure detector and automated stimulators for intractable epilepsy patients.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.487-492
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• 2003

This study investigated the effects of extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) on the sensitivity of seizure response to bicuculline, picrotoxin and NMDA in mice. The mice were exposed to either a sham or 20 G ELF-MFs for 24 hours. Convulsants were then administered i.p. at various doses. The seizure induction time and duration were measured and lethal dose ($LD_{50$}) and convulsant dose ($CD_{50}$) of the clonic and tonic convulsion were calculated. The analysis of glutamate, glycine, taurine and GABA of mouse brain was accomplished by HPLC. The mice exposed to ELF-MFs showed moderately higher $CD_{50}.{\;}LD_{50}$ and onset time on the bicuculline-induced seizure. However, the ELF-MFs did not influence them in the NMDA and picrotoxin-induced seizures. After the exposure to MFs exposure, the glutamate level was increased and GABA was decreased significantly in NMDA and picrotoxin-induced seizure. The level of glutamate and GABA were not changed by MFs in bicuculline-induced seizure. These results suggest that ELF-MFs may alter the convulsion susceptibility through GABAergic mechanism with the involvement of the level of glutamate and GABA.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2010

The effects of different doses of tramadol on analgesia and electroencephalographic (EEG) spectralparameters were compared in rats. Saline or tramadol 5, 10, 20 or 40 mg/kg was administered. The degree of analgesia was evaluated by tail-flick latency, and the degree of seizure was measured using numerical seizure score (NSS). Additionally, band powers, median power frequency and spectral edge frequency 95 were measured to quantify the EEG response. All doses of tramadol produced spike-wave discharge. Tramadol significantly and dose-dependently increased the analgesia, but these effects did not correspond with the changes in the EEG spectral parameters. NSS significantly increased in the Tramadol 20 and 40 mg/kg treatment groups compared to the Control and TRA5 groups, and two rats given 40 mg/kg had convulsions. In conclusion, tramadol dose-dependently increased the analgesic effect, and the 10 mg/kg dose appears to be a reliable clinical dose for analgesia in rats, but dose-dependent increases in analgesia and seizure severity did not correlate with EEG spectral parameters.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.74-79
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• 2016

Purpose: Febrile seizure, the most common type of pediatric convulsive disorder, is a benign seizure syndrome distinct from epilepsy. However, as epilepsy is also common during childhood, we aimed to identify the prognostic factors that can predict epilepsy in children with febrile seizures. Methods: The study comprised 249 children at the Korea University Ansan Hospital who presented with febrile seizures. The relationship between the subsequent occurrence of epilepsy and clinical factors including seizure and fever-related variables were analyzed by multivariate analysis. Results: Twenty-five patients (10.0%) had additional afebrile seizures later and were diagnosed with epilepsy. The subsequent occurrence of epilepsy in patients with a history of febrile seizures was associated with a seizure frequency of more than 10 times during the first 2 years after seizure onset (P<0.001). Factors that were associated with subsequent occurrence of epilepsy were developmental delay (P<0.001), preterm birth (P =0.001), multiple seizures during a febrile seizure attack (P =0.005), and epileptiform discharges on electroencephalography (EEG) (P =0.008). Other factors such as the age at onset of first seizure, seizure duration, and family history of epilepsy were not associated with subsequent occurrence of epilepsy in this study. Conclusion: Febrile seizures are common and mostly benign. However, careful observation is needed, particularly for prediction of subsequent epileptic episodes in patients with frequent febrile seizures with known risk factors, such as developmental delay, history of preterm birth, several attacks during a febrile episode, and epileptiform discharges on EEG.