Biomedical subjects

S Cohadon

Publications and source records attributed to S Cohadon.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

The prognosis of benign localized epilepsy in early childhood.

Onset of seizures during early childhood is a not infrequent possibility in benign partial (localization-related) epilepsy (BPEC) when all these syndromes and not only benign partial epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes are considered. In patients followed up for long periods of time, temporal changes in the EEG often make impossible a distribution into discrete syndromes. The electroclinical patterns overlap and the determining factor is not the location but the morphology of the sharp waves. A complete remission is observed in all patients, with rolandic and/or extrarolandic foci. In rare patients, seizures occur during adolescence or later and an early onset is a possible risk factor for such an outcome. It is not a relapse of BPEC but another epileptic syndrome, usually a generalized idiopathic epilepsy. BPEC may be considered as a risk factor for late epilepsy. Patients with an early onset of BPEC tend to have a longer active period of epilepsy and a higher total number of seizures, whatever is the EEG pattern. But neither frequent seizures nor a long seizure period impair the children's abilities. Nonetheless, when BPEC begins in early childhood, the patient is prone to experience frequent seizures during several years. Drug therapy is advisable more often than in BPEC with a later onset.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1987

[Discontinuation of treatment in epileptic seizures in adolescence].

A retrospective survey on the frequency of seizure-recurrence after drug withdrawal in all forms of adolescent seizures has been undertaken to detect possible prognostic criteria. Patients were selected according to 3 criteria: first seizure between 11 and 19 years of age; out-patients seen by one of us between 1955 and 1979 within the year of onset of epilepsy; all patients followed for at least 5 years after the first seizure. Two-hundred and seventy two patients entered the study. One-hundred and four patients (49 per cent) relapsed, most of them (83 per cent) within the first year after drug withdrawal. In univariate analysis, partial seizures, a normal initial EEG, an isolated seizure, a short length of illness, a long seizure-free period, one seizure only during the first year were significantly linked to a low relapse rate. The probability of being seizure-free after drug withdrawal was about 73 per cent in partial epilepsy, 20 per cent in idiopathic generalized epilepsy, and 36 per cent in undetermined generalized epilepsy. In patients having had a single seizure a dramatic difference was noted according to the seizure type: 12 per cent of relapses after a partial seizure, 69 per cent after a generalized seizure. Neither the age of onset of epilepsy nor the presence of an etiological factor were significant variables in predicting the outcome. When all factors were analysed simultaneously with Cox's hazard function, the type of seizure and the initial EEG appeared to be the only two independent factors significant for a risk of relapse.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

PubMed1984

[Efficacy of sodium valproate in partial epilepsy. Crossed study of valproate and carbamazepine].

An open response-conditional cross-over study of valproate versus carbamazepine has been done in previously untreated patients with partial seizures. Thirty-one patients entered the study. Nineteen were followed up to one year. It appeared that valproate was at least as effective as carbamazepine: at one year, 11 patients were seizure-free on valproate and only 8 were seizure-free on carbamazepine. Furthermore no side-effect was noted in valproate therapy, whereas carbamazepine was stopped in 2 patients because of skin rashes. The efficacy of sodium valproate in partial epilepsy remains controversial. It is of course limited when given as co-therapy in severe epilepsies, uncontrolled with other major antiepileptic drugs. However in naive patients, with recent and previously untreated partial epilepsies, a one-drug treatment with valproate appears to be as effective as carbamazepine or phenytoin. It has less unwanted side-effects and should be prescribed as first line treatment.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1983

Long-term prognosis in two forms of childhood epilepsy: typical absence seizures and epilepsy with rolandic (centrotemporal) EEG foci.

Findings in children seen between 1955 and 1965 during the year of onset of typical absence seizures (90 patients) or rolandic epilepsy (79 patients) were analyzed by actuarial methods. One hundred and eighteen patients were followed for more than 15 years. Rolandic epilepsy is a true benign epilepsy ending with puberty. Although school and family problems are common during the acute stage of the disease, the social adaptability of such patients is excellent. We considered only typical absences occurring as a first epileptic sign in normal children. Myoclonic or atonic absences have a poor prognosis. Many patients with simple and automatic absences experience remission 15 years after withdrawal of medication. The overall cessation rate in those experiencing absences was only 57.5%, however, and 36% of patients developed tonic-clonic seizures. Social adaptability was often inadequate. Simple and automatic absences (constituting a homogeneous group) are not truly a benign form of epilepsy, even though prognosis for those afflicted is better than that for those with other forms of primary generalized epilepsy.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1981

[Epileptics with EEG independent multifocal spike discharges (author's transl)].

Retrospective data on 77 epileptic patients allowed the following conclusions: Epilepsies with EEG independent multifocal spike discharges are mainly observed in children. Partial unilateral or generalized seizures are encountered. No relationship exists between the EEG foci and the seizure pattern. Acquired cerebral lesions are common. Multifocal spike discharges are functional foci, appearing and disappearing without close correlation with the evolution of seizures. They are an age-dependent expression of a disease which extends far beyond the seizures. They have to be absolutely distinguished from stable epileptic foci found in multifocal epilepsies.

Aging↗

PubMed1971