PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Raffaella Giannuzzi

Publications and source records attributed to Raffaella Giannuzzi.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Intermittent oral diazepam prophylaxis in febrile convulsions: its effectiveness for febrile seizure recurrence.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of diazepam for the reduction in the recurrence of febrile seizures we carried out a prospective study in two groups of children; Group A: 45 children (25 female, 20 male), receiving oral prophylaxis with diazepam, and Group B: 65 children (35 female, 30 male) who did not receive any oral prophylaxis. All subjects of both groups were followed for at least 4 years and finally re-evaluated at the mean age of 6.7+/-1.4 years. Among the patients of Group A, recurrent febrile seizures (FS) occurred in five of the 45 children (11.1%). Among the 65 children of Group B, 20 (30.7%) went on to have one or more additional episodes. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that oral diazepam, given only when fever is present, is an effective means of reducing the risk of recurrences of FS.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2004

Factors associated with poor control in partial complex epilepsy.

To evaluate the predictive factors of response to anticonvulsant therapy in children with complex partial epilepsy, we studied prospectively 74 children and adolescents suffering from this type of epilepsy. All children were prospectively followed for at least 2 years after the beginning of anticonvulsant therapy. At the end of follow-up, the children were subdivided into two groups according to the frequency of seizures: group A, children who were seizure free in the last year, and group B, children with at least six seizures in the previous year. Children with a poor response to anticonvulsant therapy had a more frequent personal history of neonatal seizures, an interval of less than 6 months between the first and the second seizures, and persistent abnormal electroencephalograms than the seizure-free patients and were often treated with polytherapy.

Age of Onset↗
PubMed2002

Typical and atypical rolandic epilepsy in childhood: a follow-up study.

Atypical features of rolandic epilepsy are not uncommon, although the long-term prognosis of this condition is not known. Eighty-five children (50 male and 35 female) attending the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Chieti, the Department of Pediatrics of Brindisi Hospital, and the Department of Neurology of San Valentino Hospital were selected for the study; these patients were subdivided into two groups according to their clinical presentation. Group A consisted of children who suffered from typical rolandic epilepsy and Group B consisted of children with atypical features of rolandic epilepsy. All patients of both groups were re-evaluated after at least 8 years from the first evaluation, and the frequency of seizures and the response to treatment were similar in the two groups of children. In spite of this fact, in patients who suffered from atypical rolandic epilepsy, we found a significantly higher percentage of learning and behavioral disabilities than in children affected by the classical form of rolandic epilepsy (45.5% vs 7.8%; P < 0.0001). In conclusion, atypical rolandic epilepsy seems to be associated with a high percentage of learning and behavioral disorders.

Anticonvulsants↗