Circulating neural antibodies in unselected children with new-onset seizures.

Circulating neural antibodies in unselected children with new-onset seizures. Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2017 Dec 21;: Authors: Garcia-Tarodo S, Datta AN, Ramelli GP, Maréchal-Rouiller F, Bien CG, Korff CM Abstract OBJECTIVE: The role of autoimmunity and neural antibodies is increasingly recognized in different forms of seizures and epilepsy. Their prevalence in new-onset epilepsy has also recently been the focus of several clinical cohorts in the adult and pediatric population, with positive titers in 10-11% of cases. Our aim was to determine the seropositivity at the first seizure onset in a non-selective group of children. METHOD: We conducted a prospective multicenter cohort study recruiting children aged 0-16 years with new-onset seizures presenting at the In- and Outpatient Pediatric Neurology Departments of three Children's Hospitals in Switzerland between September 2013 and April 2016. Neural antibodies were screened within the first 6 months of a first seizure and when positive, repeated at 1 month and 6 months follow-up. RESULTS: A total of 103 children were enrolled with a mean age at presentation of 5 years (range 1 day-15 years 9 months). The majority (n = 75) presented with generalized seizures and 6 had status epilepticus lasting > 30 min. At the time of onset, 55% of patients had fever, 24% required emergency seizure treatment and 27% hospitalization. Epilepsy was diagnosed at follow-up in 18%. No...
Source: European Journal of Paediatric Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Eur J Paediatr Neurol Source Type: research