QT interval alterations in epilepsy: A thorough investigation between epilepsy subtypes.

OBJECTIVES: Cardiac disturbances and rhythm abnormalities which potentially lead sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, have been extensively studied in focal epilepsies. However, studies including generalized epilepsies are scarce and it is not clear whether electrocardiogram parameters reflecting vulnerability to ventricular arrhythmias differ between these groups. METHODS: Medical records of patients who were followed in epilepsy department of a tertiary center between October 2015 and September 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. 66 generalized and 64 focal epilepsy patients with eligible electrophysiological data were analyzed. QTc interval, QTcd and other electrocardiographic indices were compared between patients with focal vs generalized epilepsy. Another analysis was performed in order to disclose any difference between patients with epilepsy (n:130) and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. A two-tailed p value < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: There was no difference in terms of QTc and QTcd between patients with focal and generalized epilepsy [median: 406 ms vs 404 ms, p = 0.119; and median: 46 ms vs 44 ms, p = 0.497, respectively]. However patients with epilepsy were found to have longer QTc and QTcd when compared to ones with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (p = 0.035 and p < 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: Current findings demonstrate that patients with epilepsy have longer QTc and QTcd than patients with pure psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. Since there was no difference between patients with focal and generalized epilepsy; QTc interval, QTcd and potential susceptibility to cardiac arrhythmias as a result, could be a consequence of epilepsy itself regardless of origin.

Headache features of cerebellar ischemic strokes: Clinical and radiological-experiences of a single center.

The prevalence of headache in stroke has been reported between 8% and 34%. Determining the prevalence, features, and effects on prognosis of cerebellar ischemic strokes that presented with headache solely and/or with other cerebellar signs were the aims of our study.All patients diagnosed with cerebellar ischemia were included. Electronic medical records were reviewed. Patients have been followed up for 6th month. Descriptive statistics were generated. A total of 4763 patients were evaluated retrospectively, 200 patients had cerebellar ischemia and 22 patients of these cerebellar ischemias (11%) had a headache at initial presentation. Ataxia, dysarthria, dysmetria were the most common neurological findings. There was no significant difference whether ischemic lesion single or multiple and whether above or below 1.5 cm diameter. Ischemic lesions generally were in cortical/ juxtacortical layer. According to vascular perfusion areas, 54.5% patients' ischemia was located in PICA (posterior inferior cerebellar artery) territory. Patients presenting with a headache, predominantly had left hemispheric (vermian > hemispheric > pedincular) involvement. Although these patients generally had high modified Rankin Scale scores at the first evaluation, they had low NIHSS (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale) scores (0-5), and nearly all patients recovered, with low mRS at the 6-month follow-up.Cerebellar ischemic strokes with headache presentation are significantly prevalent in patients with left hemispheric, cortical/juxtacortical, PICA perfusion territory ischemias and are associated with low morbidity unless there was a conscious disorder. We believe this is one of the first studies that evaluated the clinical and radiological parameters of cerebellar stroke patients with headache.

Effectiveness of Pregabalin for Treatment of Burning Mouth Syndrome.

Treatment of burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is challenging because there is no consensus regarding pharmalogical or nonpharmalogical therapies. The use of anticonvulsants is controversial. We present nine patients BMS who respond to pregabalin. They were diagnosed secondary BMS except two. Etiologic regulations were made firstly in patients with secondary BMS but symptoms did not decrease. We preferred pregabalin in all patients and got good results. Furthermore the addition of pregabalin to the treatment of two patients who did not respond adequately to duloxetine provided good results. We are only aware that pregabalin may reduce symptoms as a result of case reports. We believe that the diagnosis of pathologic etiology with appropriate diagnostic tests will result in better outcomes in treatment.