Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. An epileptic seizure is the clinical manifestation of an abnormal, excessive, purposeless and synchronized electrical discharge in the brain cells called neurons. The occurrence of two or more unprovoked seizures defines epilepsy. The occurrence of just one seizure may warrant the definition in a more clinical usage where recurrence may be able to be prejudged. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain. These episodes can result in physical injuries, either directly such as broken bones or through causing accidents. In epilepsy, seizures tend to recur and may have no immediate underlying cause. Isolated seizures that are provoked by a specific cause such as poisoning are not deemed to represent epilepsy. People with epilepsy may be treated differently in various areas of the world and experience varying degrees of social stigma due to the alarming nature of their symptoms.
University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) is the health sciences campus of the University of Mississippi and is located in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. UMMC, also referred to as the Medical Center, is the state's only academic medical center.
The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is a medical provider with multiple hospitals in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as clinics and facilities throughout Middle Tennessee. VUMC is an independent non-profit organization, but maintains academic affiliations with Vanderbilt University. As of 2022, the health system had more than 3 million patient visits a year, a workforce of 40,000, and 1,709 licensed hospital beds.
Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is a complex, rare, and severe childhood-onset epilepsy. It is characterized by multiple and concurrent seizure types including tonic seizure, cognitive dysfunction, and abnormal aspect on electroencephalogram (EEG) such as slow spike waves. Typically, it presents in children aged 3–5 years and most of the time persists into adulthood with slight changes in the electroclinical phentype. It has been associated with perinatal injuries, congenital infections, brain malformations, brain tumors, genetic disorders such as tuberous sclerosis and several gene mutations. Sometimes LGS is observed after infantile epileptic spasm syndrome. The prognosis for LGS is marked by a 5% mortality in childhood and persistent seizures into adulthood.
Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH) is a pediatric hospital with a Level I trauma center in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is among the largest in the United States, serving infants, children, teens, and young adults from birth to age 21. ACH is affiliated with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and serves as a teaching hospital with the UAMS College of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics. ACH staff consists of more than 505 physicians, 200 residents, and 4,400 support staff. The hospital includes 336 licensed beds, and offers three intensive care units. The campus spans 36 city blocks and has a floor space of over 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m2).
Stiripentol, sold under the brand name Diacomit, is an anticonvulsant medication used for the treatment of Dravet syndrome - a serious genetic brain disorder.
St. Louis Children's Hospital is a dedicated pediatric hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and has a primary service region covering six states. As the pediatric teaching hospital for Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Children's Hospital offers nationally recognized programs for physician training and research. The hospital has 402 licensed beds, 3,423 employees, 881 physician staff members, and 1,300 auxiliary members and volunteers. The hospital treats infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21.
Dravet syndrome, previously known as severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI), Seizures are the most common form of DS. DS is diagnosed clinically and genetic testing is recommended if there is any doubt. Due to drug-refractory epilepsy in DS, many other therapies are being explored to prolong the life expectancy of patients.
Alberta Children's Hospital (ACH) is the largest public hospital for sick children in the prairie provinces, and is located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is operated by Alberta Health Services – Calgary Health Region. The new facility opened on September 27, 2006, and is the first free-standing pediatric facility to be built in Canada in more than 20 years. It was originally opened on May 19, 1922, as the Junior Red Cross Children's Hospital. It is located west of the University of Calgary campus grounds and just across from the site of the Foothills Medical Centre.
Fritz E. Dreifuss, MD was a German-born, New Zealand-educated, American neurologist and subspecialist in epilepsy based at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, US.
The Kennedy Krieger Institute is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, Johns Hopkins affiliate located in Baltimore, Maryland, that provides in-patient and out-patient medical care, community services, and school-based programs for children and adolescents with learning disabilities, as well as disorders of the brain, spinal cord, and musculoskeletal system. The Institute provides services for children with developmental concerns mild to severe and is involved in research of various disorders, including new interventions and earlier diagnosis.
The Dravet Syndrome Foundation (DSF) is a volunteer run, non-profit organization based in the United States. The mission of the foundation is to raise research funds for Dravet's syndrome and related epilepsies, while providing support to affected individuals and families. The Dravet Syndrome Foundation is listed as a research and support organization on National Organization of Rare Diseases's (NORD) database.
Epilepsy-intellectual disability in females also known as PCDH19 gene-related epilepsy or epileptic encephalopathy, early infantile, 9 (EIEE9), is a rare type of epilepsy that affects predominately females and is characterized by clusters of brief seizures, which start in infancy or early childhood, and is occasionally accompanied by varying degrees of cognitive impairment. The striking pattern of onset seizures at a young age, genetic testing and laboratory results, potential developmental delays or developmental regression and associated disorders, eases diagnosis.
The Mischer Neuroscience Institute is a combined research and education effort between the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery and the Department of Neurology at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann Hospital. Located in Houston, the Institute draws patients from around the world for specialized treatment of diseases of the brain and spine. It was the first center in Texas and one of only a few institutions in the country to fully integrate neurology, neurosurgery, neuroradiology, neuro-oncology, spine surgery, pain medicine and neurorehabilitation.
People with epilepsy may be classified into different syndromes based on specific clinical features. These features include the age at which seizures begin, the seizure types, and EEG findings, among others. Identifying an epilepsy syndrome is useful as it helps determine the underlying causes as well as deciding what anti-seizure medication should be tried. Epilepsy syndromes are more commonly diagnosed in infants and children. Some examples of epilepsy syndromes include benign rolandic epilepsy, childhood absence epilepsy and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Severe syndromes with diffuse brain dysfunction caused, at least partly, by some aspect of epilepsy, are also referred to as epileptic encephalopathies. These are associated with frequent seizures that are resistant to treatment and severe cognitive dysfunction, for instance Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and West syndrome.
Charlotte's Web is a brand of high-cannabidiol (CBD), low-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products derived from industrial hemp and marketed as dietary supplements and cosmetics under federal law of the United States. It is produced by Charlotte's Web, Inc. in Colorado. Hemp-derived products do not induce the psychoactive "high" typically associated with recreational marijuana strains that are high in THC. Charlotte's Web hemp-derived products contain less than 0.3% THC.
Charlotte Dravet is a French paediatric psychiatrist and epileptologist.
The Cannabinoid Research Initiative of Saskatchewan (CRIS) was founded in 2017 as an interdisciplinary research team of clinician researchers (medical and veterinary), basic scientists, and social scientists. CRIS aims to obtain scientific evidence about the application of Cannabinoids and Medical cannabis to humans and animals, for health, disease and disorders. The team was initially based at the University of Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada but includes researchers based at the University of Regina and University of Alberta. A strategic management executive committee coordinates activities and develops research opportunities. The sections of CRIS include: Analytical Evaluations, Human Clinical Studies, Biomedical studies, Veterinary Sciences, Knowledge Translation and Studies of Cannabinoids and Society. CRIS members participate in the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids, and the International Cannabinoid Research Society.
SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability is a monogenetic developmental and epileptic encephalopathy that affects the central nervous system. Symptoms include intellectual disability, epilepsy, autism, sensory processing deficits, hypotonia and unstable gait.
