SUMMARYResults: Of 60 patients randomized, 59 completed the trial. Treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) were reported by 16 patients and included dizziness, headache, back pain, somnolence, and injection site pain. The tolerability profile of intravenous lacosamide was consistent with that of oral lacosamide. All AEs were considered mild or moderate in intensity, and no serious AEs or AEs leading to withdrawal were reported. Conclusions: Intravenous lacosamide, administered as 60-or 30-min twice-daily infusions, showed a similar safety and tolerability profile to oral lacosamide when used as replacement therapy. Results from this trial support further investigation of intravenous lacosamide at shorter infusion durations.

The cutaneous silent period (CuSP), a transient suppression of electromyographic activity that follows painful stimuli, allows an indirect study of the small-diameter A-delta fibers. To assess the function of these fibers in peripheral nerve disorders, we compared the CuSP of 40 controls to that of 40 patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and one patient with a traumatic transection of the median nerve. Patients with CTS were divided into three severity groups, based on electrophysiological data. In CTS, digit 2 evoked CuSP onset latency was increased in all groups, and CuSP duration from abductor digiti minimi was reduced in all groups. In our series, although some parameters of the CuSP were altered, only transection of the nerve abolished it. A-delta fibers are robust, probably due to their less vulnerable small diameter. This characteristic may be useful to study various conditions and essential for patients to retain some sensation within the median nerve territory.

Epilepsy surgery has been established as an effective treatment in pharmacoresistant focal epilepsies. Most candidates for epilepsy surgery are patients with partial epilepsy syndromes refractory to medical treatment. The curative surgery procedure is resection of the epileptogenic zone; therefore, precise detection of the site responsible for seizure generation is necessary. Modern structural and functional imaging techniques have made presurgical evaluation less invasive and available for a higher number of patients. Video electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring, high-resolution structural and functional imaging techniques are used widely for presurgical evaluation. When noninvasive evaluation is not sufficient for the detection of the epileptogenic zone, invasive EEG monitoring and intracarotid amobarbital test are used.A classical example of a surgically curable epilepsy syndrome is mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with about 70-80% of patients becoming free of seizures after surgery. Results in extratemporal epilepsies are also satisfactory.Despite worldwide expansion during the recent decade, epilepsy surgery remains underutilized. Better understanding of advances in presurgical evaluation should reduce fears of epilepsy surgery and help to select patients who could achieve complete seizure control or significant amelioration after surgery.

No abstract

No abstract