Review
Clinical Neurology
Artur Vetkas, Juergen Germann, Alexandre Boutet, Nardin Samuel, Can Sarica, Kazuaki Yamamoto, Brendan Santyr, Cletus Cheyuo, Christopher R. R. Conner, Stefan M. M. Lang, Andres M. M. Lozano, George M. M. Ibrahim, Taufik Valiante, Paul N. N. Kongkham, Suneil K. K. Kalia
Summary: This systematic review summarizes the clinical indications, outcomes, and adverse effects of insular laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) through a review of the literature. The results show that LITT is effective in treating both insular seizures and insular tumors. However, the lack of prospective studies highlights the need for randomized and controlled trials to evaluate the efficacy of LITT.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Joshua Pepper, Hadleigh Cuthbert, Teresa Scott, Ismail Ughratdar, Victoria Wykes, Colin Watts, Pietro D'Urso, Konstantina Karabatsou, Carl-Christian Moor, Erminia Albanese
Summary: This study conducted a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent excision of insular high-grade gliomas at three regional neurosurgical centers in the UK, showing that surgery is safe and results in effective postoperative seizure control.
WORLD NEUROSURGERY
(2021)
Review
Clinical Neurology
Odile Feys, Serge Goldman, Valentina Lolli, Chantal Depondt, Benjamin Legros, Nicolas Gaspard, Sophie Schuind, Xavier De Tiege, Estelle Rikir
Summary: Insular epilepsy requires appropriate diagnostic tools due to its heterogeneous seizure semiology and limited contribution of scalp EEG signals. The deep and highly connected location of the insula presents surgical challenges. Advances in diagnostic and therapeutic tools, such as functional MRI and SEEG, have improved the management of insular epilepsy. Tailored resection based on SEEG or alternative curative treatments have shown promising results.
Article
Neurosciences
Jimmy Li, Sandra Reiter-Campeau, Dina Namiranian, Denahin Hinnoutondji Toffa, Alain Bouthillier, Francois Dubeau, Dang Khoa Nguyen
Summary: This series of studies reveals the relationship between insular involvement and epilepsy surgery failure. Through various detection methods, researchers identified insular epileptic activity in 14 patients and performed re-operations, with the majority achieving favorable post-operative outcomes.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Philippa J. Karoly, Rachel E. Stirling, Dean R. Freestone, Ewan S. Nurse, Matias Maturana, Amy J. Halliday, Andrew Neal, Nicholas M. Gregg, Benjamin H. Brinkmann, Mark P. Richardson, Andre La Gerche, David B. Grayden, Wendyl D'Souza, Mark J. Cook
Summary: The study found circadian and multiday rhythms in both healthy individuals and those with epilepsy, with heart rate cycles showing similarities to multiday epileptic rhythms. The relationship between heart rate and seizures may have significant implications for epilepsy therapy, including seizure forecasting. Understanding the link between multiday cycles in the heart and brain can shed new light on endogenous physiological rhythms in humans.
Review
Nutrition & Dietetics
Ali A. Asadi-Pooya, Leila Simani
Summary: This study systematically reviewed clinical trials of vitamin-mineral supplementations in people with epilepsy to treat seizures. The results showed that various vitamins and minerals have certain effects on seizures in epilepsy patients, but high-quality data is lacking.
CLINICAL NUTRITION
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Anna Witkowska-Wrobel, Kirill Aristovich, Abbe Crawford, Justin D. Perkins, David Holder
Summary: The study successfully reconstructed slow impedance changes evoked by cell swelling using Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) in a swine model of epilepsy, demonstrating the potential of combining EIT with intracranial EEG monitoring to improve diagnostic yield in epileptic patients.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Koen M. Santifort, Elise Bertijn, Sofie F. M. Bhatti, Peter Leegwater, Andrea Fischer, Paul J. J. Mandigers
Summary: This retrospective study analyzed data of Border Collies with idiopathic epilepsy, revealing a correlation between the age of onset of the first epileptic seizure and the severity of epilepsy. The study also characterized the phenotype of idiopathic epilepsy in Border Collies and emphasized the significant impact of epilepsy on their quality of life.
FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Joshua M. Diamond, Benjamin E. Diamond, Michael S. Trotta, Kate Dembny, Sara K. Inati, Kareem A. Zaghloul
Summary: Our study suggests that ictal activity observed by intracranial EEG may reflect propagated activity from a relatively focal seizure source, even during later time points when ictal activity is more widespread. By analyzing the time differences between ictal discharges in adjacent electrodes, we were able to estimate the location of the hypothesized focal source, which was found to closely match the clinically and neurophysiologically determined brain region giving rise to seizures. Furthermore, we found that this focal source is a dynamic entity that moves and evolves over the time course of a seizure, challenging the traditional conceptualization of the seizure source.
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Tracey A. Milligan
Summary: The diagnosis and treatment of seizures and epilepsy is a common task of physicians, involving excluding underlying conditions and determining the type of epilepsy for effective medication control.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
(2021)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Yuzi Jin, Lei Ren, Xiaoqing Jing, Hongquan Wang
Summary: Epilepsy is a chronic disorder characterized by recurrent seizures, and it is a global public health issue with comorbidities in cognition, psychiatric status, and social-adaptive behaviors. The molecular mechanisms underlying epilepsy-induced neuronal damage remain unclear. Recent studies have shown that inhibiting ferroptosis, a type of regulated cell death, can mitigate neuronal damage in epilepsy. This review suggests inhibiting ferroptosis as a therapeutic target for epilepsy and associated neurobehavioral comorbidities.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Plant Sciences
Licia T. S. Pina, Adriana G. Guimaraes, Wagner B. da R. Santos, Marlange A. Oliveira, Thallita K. Rabelo, Mairim R. Serafini
Summary: This study reviewed 35 monoterpenes with anticonvulsive activity, which have the potential therapeutic effect on epilepsy by reducing seizure activity through targeting key pharmacological targets and reducing neuronal inflammation and oxidative stress caused by seizures. Monoterpenes may represent a promising alternative treatment option, but further research is needed to determine their mechanism of action and safety assessment.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jung-Hyun Alex Lee, Qiyu Chen, Min Zhuo
Summary: This review summarizes recent progress in synaptic mechanisms of different forms of cortical long-term potentiation (LTP) and their potential contribution to behavioral pain and emotional changes.
Article
Cell Biology
Ala Ahrari, Maurice Meseke, Eckart Foerster
Summary: Granule cell dispersion (GCD) is considered a pathological feature of temporal lobe epilepsy. Early epileptiform activity may be linked to the development of chronic epilepsy, and electrical activity during neuronal migration and differentiation is believed to contribute to GCD.
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ji-Eun Kim, Tae-Cheon Kang
Summary: The upregulation of TASK-1 expression in CA1 astrocytes may be involved in refractory seizures to LEV. Inhibition of TASK-1 expression by LEV reduces seizure activities in responders but not non-responders.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Hiba-Douja Chehade, Sandra Kobaiter-Maarrawi, Fares Komboz, Jean-Paul Farhat, Michel Magnin, Luis Garcia-Larrea, Joseph Maarrawi
Summary: The study aimed to evaluate the modulatory effects of low frequency and high-frequency posterior insular stimulation on the activity of somatosensory thalamic nuclei. The results showed that 50 Hz stimulation could be a better candidate for controlling neuropathic pain.
Review
Anesthesiology
Charles Quesada, Anna Kostenko, Idy Ho, Caterina Leone, Zahra Nochi, Alexandre Stouffs, Matthias Wittayer, Ombretta Caspani, Nanna Brix Finnerup, Andre Mouraux, Gisele Pickering, Irene Tracey, Andrea Truini, Rolf-Detlef Treede, Luis Garcia-Larrea
Summary: The study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of human pain models, identifying five reliable models that induce secondary hyperalgesia and have pharmacological profiles similar to clinical conditions. These models can inform basic research for new drug development by providing helpful potential biomarkers.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PAIN
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Helene Bastuji, Andeol Cadic-Melchior, Michel Magnin, Luis Garcia-Larrea
Summary: Enhanced phase-coherence between the sensory posterior insula and neocortical and limbic areas significantly increases the probability of arousal to nociceptive stimuli, indicating that sleep micro-states with enhanced interareal communication facilitate physiological arousal. Fluctuations in interareal communication immediately before noxious stimuli may modulate the responsiveness to incoming input by facilitating or preventing the transfer of noxious information from sensory to higher cortical areas.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Florian Chouchou, Caroline Perchet, Luis Garcia-Larrea
Summary: This study aimed to compare EEG activity during pain and facial grimaces. Results showed that painful stimuli significantly increased gamma power and decreased alpha power, while sustained facial-neck muscle contractions also increased gamma power but did not decrease alpha power. Pain-related alpha decrease in contralateral central scalp was less disturbed by muscle activity, which may prove to be a more discriminant ancillary pain biomarker.
NEUROPHYSIOLOGIE CLINIQUE-CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Anesthesiology
Marcelo Delboni Lemos, Isabelle Faillenot, Leandro Tavares Lucato, Manoel Jacobsen Teixeira, Luciana Mendonca Barbosa, Eduardo Joaquim Lopes Alho, Adriana Bastos Conforto, Antonia Lilian de Lima Rodrigues, Ricardo Galhardoni, Valquiria Aparecida da Silva, Clarice Listik, Jefferson Rosi, Roland Peyron, Luis Garcia-Larrea, Daniel Ciampi de Andrade
Summary: Poststroke pain is a heterogeneous term that includes both central neuropathic and nonneuropathic syndromes. This study found that the interruption of thalamocortical white matter connections is an important component of central poststroke pain, which is different from nonneuropathic poststroke pain and strokes without pain.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Andre Mouraux, Petra Bloms-Funke, Irmgard Boesl, Ombretta Caspani, Sonya C. Chapman, Giulia Di Stefano, Nanna Brix Finnerup, Luis Garcia-Larrea, Marcus Goetz, Anna Kostenko, Bernhard Pelz, Esther Pogatzki-Zahn, Karin Schubart, Alexandre Stouffs, Andrea Truini, Irene Tracey, Inaki F. Troconiz, Johannes Van Niel, Jose Miguel Vela, Katy Vincent, Jan Vollert, Vishvarani Wanigasekera, Matthias Wittayer, Keith G. Phillips, Rolf-Detlef Treede
Summary: IMI2-PainCare-BioPain-RCT3 aims to profile functional biomarkers of drug effects on the nociceptive system and accelerate the future development of analgesics. The study involves various methods including EEG measurements in healthy subjects and medication trials, with concurrent evaluation of drug effects in normal and hyperalgesic conditions. The research hypothesizes that EEG-derived measures can serve as biomarkers of target engagement of analgesic drugs.
Article
Neurosciences
Maud Frot, Francois Mauguiere, Luis Garcia-Larrea
Summary: The functional roles of the posterior and anterior sections of the insula differ, with the posterior section mainly connected to somato-sensory and motor areas, and the anterior section connected to frontal, limbic, and cingulate regions. The posterior section responds equally to all types of faces, while the anterior section only responds to emotional faces. Both sections of the insula are activated in parallel via distinct functional routes.
Article
Anesthesiology
Noelia Samartin-Veiga, Marina Pidal-Miranda, Alberto J. Gonzalez-Villar, Claire Bradley, Luis Garcia-Larrea, Anthony T. O'Brien, Maria T. Carrillo-de-la-Pena
Summary: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has shown potential in improving pain and other symptoms of fibromyalgia (FM). However, the optimal stimulation target and the effectiveness of tDCS in FM treatment remain unclear. This study compared two classical targets and a novel pain-related area and found significant improvements in clinical pain, fatigue, cognitive and sleep disturbances, and experimental pain across all treatment groups. However, the effectiveness of tDCS as a treatment for FM is questioned.
Review
Rehabilitation
Luis Garcia-Larrea, Charles Quesada
Summary: Epidural stimulation of the motor cortex and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are effective methods for relieving neuropathic pain, but the efficacy may vary between individuals. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a low-cost and relatively safe treatment method, but there is currently insufficient evidence.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL AND REHABILITATION MEDICINE
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Johannes van Niel, Petra Bloms-Funke, Ombretta Caspani, Jose Maria Cendros, Luis Garcia-Larrea, Andrea Truini, Irene Tracey, Sonya C. Chapman, Nicolas Marco-Arino, Inaki F. Troconiz, Keith Phillips, Nanna Brix Finnerup, Andre Mouraux, Rolf-Detlef Treede
Summary: There is a need for improved analgesics, especially for neuropathic and chronic pain conditions. Many candidate drugs have failed in clinical trials despite promising preclinical results. A consortium of researchers from academia and the pharmaceutical industry was established to identify and validate functional biomarkers for assessing drug effects on pain processing. A systematic literature search was conducted to find pharmacological probes for validating these biomarkers. Once validated, these biomarkers combined with pharmacometric modelling are expected to accelerate analgesic drug development.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Afif Afif, Luis Garcia-Larrea, Patrick Mertens
Summary: This study aimed to explore the relationship between the clinical efficacy of eMCS in treating chronic neuropathic pain and the precise localization of the contacts over the motor cortex somatotopic representation of the painful area. The findings showed that eMCS provides analgesic effects when the stimulated cortex corresponds to the somatotopy of the painful area.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Anesthesiology
Caroline Perchet, Koichi Hagiwara, Charbel Salameh, Luis Garcia-Larrea
Summary: Recording cold-evoked potentials (CEPs) can improve the objective assessment of human thermo-nociceptive function. The reliability and diagnostic use of CEP recordings in clinical conditions have not been documented. Joint recording of CEPs and laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) can increase the sensitivity of neurophysiological techniques to thin fiber-spinothalamic lesions, especially when abnormalities of cold perception predominate.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PAIN
(2023)
Review
Health Care Sciences & Services
Luis Garcia-Larrea
Summary: Neuromodulation techniques, such as rTMS and tDCS, are being increasingly used to alleviate pain and improve quality of life. Research has shown that rTMS has a significant analgesic effect on neuropathic pain, while tDCS is a lower-cost alternative with fewer safety concerns. However, the limited quality of published reports raises uncertainty about the efficacy of these techniques.
CURRENT OPINION IN SUPPORTIVE AND PALLIATIVE CARE
(2023)
Editorial Material
Anesthesiology
Luis Garcia-Larrea, Didier Bouhassira
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PAIN
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Luciana Mendonca Barbosa, Valquiria Aparecida da Silva, Antonia Lilian de Lima Rodrigues, Diego Toledo Reis Mendes Fernandes, Rogerio Adas Ayres de Oliveira, Ricardo Galhardoni, Lin Tchia Yeng, Jefferson Rosi Junior, Adriana Bastos Conforto, Leandro Tavares Lucato, Marcelo Delboni Lemos, Roland Peyron, Luis Garcia-Larrea, Manoel Jacobsen Teixeira, Daniel Ciampi de Andrade
Summary: This study aimed to differentiate central post-stroke pain from other types of pain in stroke patients. The researchers found that central post-stroke pain mainly affects the face and limbs, while non-neuropathic pain is predominantly axial. Various neuropathic pain symptoms and quantitative sensory testing results were found to be associated with the occurrence of central post-stroke pain. Measuring cold hypoesthesia and allodynia intensity in stroke patients can explain 77% of the occurrence of neuropathic pain.
BRAIN COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)