The landscape of drug resistant absence seizures in adolescents and adults: Pathophysiology, electroclinical spectrum and treatment options

Rev Neurol (Paris). 2024 Feb 26:S0035-3787(24)00291-1. doi: 10.1016/j.neurol.2023.11.010. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe persistence of typical absence seizures (AS) in adolescence and adulthood may reduce the quality of life of patients with genetic generalized epilepsies (GGEs). The prevalence of drug resistant AS is probably underestimated in this patient population, and treatment options are relatively scarce. Similarly, atypical absence seizures in developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) may be unrecognized, and often persist into adulthood despite improvement of more severe seizures. These two seemingly distant conditions, represented by typical AS in GGE and atypical AS in DEE, share at least partially overlapping pathophysiological and genetic mechanisms, which may be the target of drug and neurostimulation therapies. In addition, some patients with drug-resistant typical AS may present electroclinical features that lie in between the two extremes represented by these generalized forms of epilepsy.PMID:38413268 | DOI:10.1016/j.neurol.2023.11.010

Source: Revue Neurologique - February 27, 2024 Category: Neurology Authors: G Daquin F Bonini Source Type: research