Robert C. Knowlton

Cannabidiol for Drop Attacks in Lennox–Gastaut Syndrome

Drop seizures — generalized tonic, atonic, and severe myoclonic — occur frequently (usually multiple times a day) and are often the most severely

Efficacy of Epilepsy Surgery in Children

Despite level I evidence for large benefits from epilepsy surgery for anterior medial temporal lobe epilepsy in adults and adolescents, only a small

Lacosamide vs. Controlled-Release Carbamazepine Monotherapy as Initial Epilepsy Treatment

Nearly all new antiepilepsy medications (AEDs) obtain initial indications as adjunctive (add-on) therapy in patients with medically uncontrolled

Epilepsy Itself Carries Risks During Pregnancy and Delivery

Much research about maternal epilepsy and pregnancy has focused on adverse outcomes associated with fetal exposure to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs); hence, relatively little data are available about risk for pregnancy complications in women with epilepsy (WWE) independent of AED use. Now, in a cohort study based on >1.4 million births in Sweden from 1997 through 2011, researchers utilized a national medical birth registry and a prescribed drug registry to assess …

Differences in Early Recognition and Management of Convulsive vs. Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus

Increasingly, evidence supports early prehospital recognition and treatment of status epilepticus (SE). Yet little is known about the impact of early

Increasing the Diagnostic Yield of Routine EEG

The optimal duration of routine diagnostic electroencephalography (EEG) studies — diagnostic yield versus lab efficiency — has hardly been studied. The American Clinical Neurophysiology Society and International League Against Epilepsy recommend that EEGs last at least 20 to 30 minutes. However, many routine EEG studies are diagnostically negative. Repeated studies and sleep deprivation increase diagnostic sensitivity, but this adds costs and additional patient burden. Taking advantage of the Mayo Clinics routine practice of performing 60-minute …

Barriers to Referral for Epilepsy Surgery Evaluation

Marked underuse of resective surgery for drug-resistant focal epilepsy has not changed in recent decades. Although substantial accumulated evidence has

What to Make of Partial Seizure Symptoms in Patients with Generalized Epilepsy

Increasingly, epilepsy is being considered in a “new” conceptual framework based on the vague yet obvious idea that neural networks are involved. Part

Epilepsy Case Definition Updated

The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) has updated the clinical definition of epilepsy, bringing the term “in concordance with common use.”

Deeper Discovery of Genetic Basis of Malformations of Cortical Development

Somatic mutations occur after fertilization and lead to more than one genotype within an organism (mosaicism). These mutations are mostly studied in cancers but are of increasing interest in the role of neurodevelopment disorders. Malformations of cortical development (MCDs) have a wide spectrum of phenotypes, in particular those that are mild (e.g., a forme fruste of a disease), compelling suspicion for a role of somatic mutations. The authors studied …