The rates of epilepsy among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are higher than that of the general population. The exact prevalence and aetiology of the comorbidity of autism and epilepsy are not well understood; however, the connection is well-documented. This common comorbidity makes the treatment of epilepsy increasingly complex for…

Given the grave morbidity and mortality of drug-resistant epilepsy, it is of great clinical interest to determine how often prior proven drug-resistant epilepsy is reversible without surgery and whether remission can be predicted by clinical features in children with incident drug-resistant epilepsy. We determined the likelihood of 1-, 2- and…

Before performing neurosurgery, an exhaustive presurgical assessment is required, usually including an investigation of language cerebral lateralization. Among the available procedures, the intracarotid amobarbital test (IAT) was formerly the most widely used. However, this procedure has many limitations: it is invasive and potentially traumatic,…

Previous articles have discussed patients with intractable epilepsy who have benefited from epilepsy surgery to remove or disconnect the area of the brain that propagates their seizures. Another group of people who may benefit from epilepsy surgery is those who have generalized seizures--seizures where there is no clear onset in the brain. These…

Recent studies have suggested that cortical gamma-oscillations are tightly linked with various forms of physiological activity. In the present study, the dynamic changes of intracranially recorded median-nerve somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) and somatosensory-induced gamma-oscillations were animated on a three-dimensional MR image, and the…

The epidemiology of lesions identified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), along with the use of pre-surgical evaluations and surgery in childhood-onset epilepsy patients has not previously been described. In a prospectively identified community-based cohort of children enrolled from 1993 to 1997, we examined (i) the frequency of lesions…

Hemispherectomy (disconnection or removal of an entire cerebral hemisphere) is a rare surgical procedure used for the relief of drug-resistant epilepsy in children. After hemispherectomy, contralateral hemiplegia persists whereas gross expressive and receptive language functions can be remarkably spared. Motor speech deficits have rarely been…

Speech-related fMRI activation was examined in six hemispherectomy patients (three left LX, three right RX, four with congenital and two with late-acquired hemiplegia) operated in childhood for the relief of drug-resistant epilepsy. Although the temporal and sensorimotor pattern of activation was similar to that found in neurologically intact…

After hemispherectomy (removal or disconnection of an entire cerebral hemisphere) in childhood for treatment of intractable epilepsy, gross speech and language functions are often rescued. Whether more complex functions, such as syntactic processing, are selectively impaired, remains controversial. Here we present a cross-sectional study of…

This commentary reviews studies of children with Landau-Kleffner Syndrome (LKS) and autistic regression (AR) and concludes that they are two distinct entities with different epileptic profiles and that the treatment modalities used in LKS cannot be expected to yield a therapeutic effect in AR. Multiple Subpial Transection is discussed. (Contains…

Surgical treatment appears to improve the cognitive prognosis in children undergoing surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The beneficial effects of surgery on memory functions, particularly on material-specific memory, are more difficult to assess because of potentially interacting factors such as age range, intellectual level,…

The treatment of seizure disorders and EEG epileptiform abnormalities without epilepsy in children with autism spectrum disorders in considered within the context of the relationship epilepsy and epileptiform disorders to language, behavior, and cognition. The use of anticonvulsants to treat epileptiform discharges thought to be producing…

Epileptic encephalopathies are progressive clinical and electroencephalographic syndromes where deterioration is thought to be caused by frequent seizures and abundant EEG epileptiform activity. Seizures occur in approximately 10-15% of children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and 8-10% have epileptiform EEG abnormalities without…