Recent advances in pathophysiology studies and treatment of epilepsy in neurocutaneous disorders
Published Online: Oct 13, 2014
Page range: 99 - 108
Received: Jul 24, 2014
Accepted: Oct 03, 2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/joepi-2015-0017
Keywords
© 2014 Lauren B. Bolden et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Introduction
Epilepsy that is associated with neurocutaneous disorders seriously deteriorates quality of life and cognitive outcome of affected children. Recent advances in epilepsy pathophysiology raise hopes for better treatment results in this difficult group of patients.
Aim
The aim of this review is to present recent treatment recommendations as well as current research progress in the most frequent neurocutaneous disorders.
Material and methods
We analyzed PubMed database to select the most prominent and recent (up to 2014 year) publications on the treatment and mechanisms of epilepsy in selected neurocutaneous disorders. We aimed to emphasize evidence-based medicine recommendations as well as basic experimental studies dealing with molecular mechanisms of epileptogenesis.
Discussion and conclusions
Recent advances in disease-modifying treatment options such as mTOR inhibitors in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex open up new perspectives for neurologists. Traditional resective surgery has still a major role as a treatment of choice in carefully selected cases.