Citations

Abstract Objective Invasive presurgical evaluation plays a key role in pediatric epilepsy surgery, particularly in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)‐negative cases, by guiding resective, disconnective, or ablative procedures. This International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Taskforce study provides an updated global overview of current invasive evaluation practices. Methods Group‐level data were collected from 61 epilepsy surgery programs (49 pediatric‐only) in 29 countries across six continents. Included were children and adolescents who underwent presurgical evaluation and epilepsy surgery in 2023. The study was designed to enable comparison with the similar ILAE survey conducted in 2004. Results A total of 2427 patients were included. Invasive evaluations were performed in 21.1% of cases, most frequently in North America (33.7%, higher than Europe: 18.0%, p = .003). Among invasive cases, 32.3% had no detectable MRI abnormalities. The main indication for invasive evaluation was seizure onset localization (88.1%), followed by motor or sensory mapping (17.2%) and language mapping (14.2%). Stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) was the predominant technique (19.8% overall, 93.6% of invasive cases), more common in North America (30.0%, p = .021) and less common in South America (7.4%, p < .001). Subdural electrodes were used in only 3.2% of invasive cases, and combined depth and subdural approaches in 3.2%. SEEG‐guided radiofrequency thermocoagulation (RF‐TC) was performed in 40.9% of SEEG cases, most commonly in Asia (63.8%). In 16.2% of invasive evaluations, patients did not proceed to resection, disconnection, or ablation, with the highest rate in Europe (28.5%). Significance This global survey provides the first broad overview of invasive evaluation practices in pediatric epilepsy surgery across participating centers worldwide. It highlights the widespread adoption of SEEG, declining use of subdural electrodes, and increasing application of SEEG‐guided RF‐TC. The high proportion of MRI‐negative cases and the considerable proportion of patients not proceeding to resection, disconnection, or ablation underscore the complexity of contemporary surgical candidates and the need for further refinement of selection strategies.

Abstract Objective Pediatric epilepsy surgery is well established, but contemporary global data on referral and presurgical evaluation practices are lacking. This International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Task Force study provides an updated overview of current trends and regional differences. Methods Group‐level data were collected from 61 epilepsy surgery programs (49 pediatric‐only) across 29 countries and six continents, identified through ILAE networks, and included all children and adolescents treated in 2023 who underwent presurgical evaluation/epilepsy surgery. Results Group‐level data were available for 2427 patients. Mean age at surgery was 9.1 ± 4.9 years; mean epilepsy duration was 5.3. At surgery, 3.2% were <1 year old (highest in Oceania: 5.1%), and 6.1% were nonpharmacoresistant (highest in Europe: 15.0%). Prior neurosurgery was reported in 14.2% (highest in North America: 28.8%), including 8.0% resections (6.1% for epilepsy, 1.5% for tumors; highest in Oceania: 16.5%), 2.3% disconnections (1.3% corpus callosotomy; highest in South America: 4.7%), and 4.2% neuromodulation (3.7% vagal nerve stimulation, .2% responsive neurostimulation, one deep brain stimulation; highest in North America: 12.2%). Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) at surgery included Lennox–Gastaut syndrome (7.4%), infantile epileptic spasms syndrome (5.1%), and DEE with spike–wave activation in sleep (1.5%). Presurgical investigations included fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (52.6%; highest in Oceania: 79.7%), genetic testing (46.8%; highest in Asia: 54.3%), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) postprocessing (32.4%; highest in South America: 53.0%), functional MRI (fMRI; 15.2%; highest in North America: 40.3%), magnetoencephalography (11.9%; highest in North America: 39.3%), single photon emission computed tomography (9.6%; highest in North America: 22.2%), high‐density electroencephalography (EEG; 1.9%; highest in Europe: 4.7%), source localization (1.6%; highest in Oceania: 7.6%), Wada test (1.2%; highest in North America: 3.5%), and EEG‐fMRI (.5%; highest in Europe: 1.1%). Significance Despite some early surgeries, including in infancy and before pharmacoresistance, mean epilepsy duration before surgery remains >5 years. Reoperations are common, with resection more frequent than neuromodulation. Genetic testing in nearly half of patients reflects its growing relevance, and the high rate of DEEs underscores the complexity of surgical candidates.

Introduction: Early identification of Acute Myocardial Injury can prompt rapid triage and appropriate interventions to improve clinical outcomes. Over 10 million patients present at the ED with chest-pain, with the majority due to non-cardiac causes, resulting in unnecessary burdens for Emergency Departments (ED). An instant non-invasive method to measure cardiac troponin (cTn) would therefore be of great benefit. Identified need: All Guidelines recommend the use of high sensitivity (HS) cTn for the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Current biochemical biomarker testing relies on labeling the cTn with turnaround times often an hour or more. Point-of-care solutions reduce the test time, but still depend on the proper handling of samples and blood processing techniques that could lead to difficulties. Tropsensor provides a non-invasive alternative to standard of care (SOC) hs-cTn measurements without the need for a blood draw. The molecular infrared spectroscopy-based transdermal device provides a cTn readout within 5 minutes and allows for serial measurements without any of the delays or complications of blood draws. Methods: A 26-patient (consented and IRB approved) study was conducted at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital with recruitment based on ACS-related presenting symptoms at the ED. Wrist-worn Tropsensor was used on the patients while the corresponding troponin was determined using a high sensitivity (SOC) assay (Siemens ADVIA Centaur) via a blood draw. Results and conclusions: A Pearson’s correlation of 82% with the hs-cTnI was observed. AMI diagnosis sensitivity was 100%, Specificity=50%, PPV=81.8%, NPV=100% and accuracy=84.6%. The Tropsensor modality seems to provide data similar to that of a hs-cTn assay. If so, it would accelerate the assessment of patients presenting with chest pain. By not requiring a blood draw, the Tropsensor could provide a rapid, safe, standardized and reliable source for cTn while allowing bedside serial trending. It thus has the potential to streamline cardiac care workflow by ruling-out many non-cardiac patients and identifying those with high values who are at risk. Such an approach has the potential to facilitate appropriate patient triage towards early discharge of emergent treatment.

Objective The objective of this study was to determine whether a triple therapy regimen incorporating twice-daily saquinavir is as effective as a three-times daily regimen. Methods This was an open-label, Phase III, multicentre, 48-week study involving 837 HIV-1-infected patients randomised to one of the following: saquinavir soft gel capsule (SGC) 1200 mg three-times daily, plus two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) (arm A); saquinavir SGC 1600 mg twice-daily, plus two NRTIs (arm B); saquinavir SGC 1200 mg twice-daily and nelfinavir 1250 mg twice-daily, plus a single NRTI (arm C). The primary outcome measure was the virological response in arm A versus B and in arm A versus C with respect to the percentage of patients whose plasma HIV-1 RNA levels fell below the level of quantification for the Amplicor assay (<400 copies/ml) at weeks 24 and 48. Results At 48 weeks, the percentage of patients with plasma HIV-1 RNA levels <400 copies/ml was 47.1% (arm A), 45.3% (arm B) and 42.7% (arm C) in the intention-to-treat analysis. The treatment difference between arm B–arm A was -1.8% (95% confidence intervals -10.1, 6.5) and for arm C–arm A was -4.5% (95% confidence intervals -12.7, 3.7) in the intention-to-treat analysis. These differences fell within the maximum allowable difference (±12%) for arm B compared with arm A. At week 24, the percentage of patients with HIV-1 RNA levels <400 copies/ml was 59.6% (arm A), 57.6% (arm B) and 51.3% (arm C). Conclusions A twice-daily triple therapy regimen incorporating saquinavir SGC plus two NRTIs was of equivalent efficacy to the three-times daily regimen studied. All regimens were generally well tolerated.

Thyrotoxic patients exhibit increased levels of immune activation molecules (soluble interleukin-2 receptor [sIL-2R], intercellular adhesion molecule-1 [ICAM-1], and endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecule-1 [ELAM-1]) in serum, although the clinical significance of these measurements remains unclear. In a randomized 4-week study, we have recently shown that in the treatment of hyperthyroidism, the combination of cholestyramine and methimazole (MMI) resulted in faster lowering of serum thyroid-hormone levels than did MMI alone. Stored serial serum samples from patients participating in this randomized treatment trial were analyzed for sIL-2R, soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1), and soluble ELAM-1 (sELAM-1). The levels of all three molecules were elevated in patients with hyperthyroidism. Although the levels of sICAM-1 and sELAM-1 remained elevated through the 4-week follow-up period in both groups of patients, the sIL-2R levels (normal levels, 1.0 to 4.2 ng/ml) decreased significantly in the 10 patients who received cholestyramine in addition to MMI (week 0, 14.2 +/- 1.5 ng/ml; week 2, 10.8 +/- 1.2 ng/ml; week 4, 8.9 +/- 1.5 ng/ml). In eight patients who received MMI alone, sIL-2R decreased less rapidly (week 0, 12.3 +/- 1.4 ng/ml; week 2, 12.3 +/- 1.3 ng/ml; week 4, 10.9 +/- 1.3 ng/ml). sICAM-1 and sELAM-1 were elevated at baseline but did not decrease during therapy. In the former group, free thyroxine and free triiodothyronine decreased faster. These data show that levels of sIL-2R in serum, but not those of sICAM-1 and sELAM-1, may be of clinical use in the early follow-up evaluation of medically treated patients.