Objectives: This retrospective cohort study investigated the clinical characteristics and seizure outcomes of patients aged 1–14 years with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) who were treated by different typologies of therapy. Methods: Four hundred and eighteen children with DRE were recruited from Sanbo Brain Hospital of Capital Medical University from April 2008 to February 2015. The patients were divided into three groups: medication (n = 134, 32.06%), resection surgery (n = 185, 44.26%), and palliative surgery (n = 99, 23.68%) groups. Demographic characteristics were attained from medical records. All patients were followed up for at least 5 years, with seizure outcomes classified according to International League Against Epilepsy criteria. The psychological outcome was evaluated with the development quotient and Wechsler Intelligence Quotient Scale for children (Chinese version). Results: The most frequent seizure type was generalized tonic seizure in 53.83% of patients. Age at seizure onset in 54.55% of patients was <3 years. The most frequent etiologies were focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). West syndrome was the most common epilepsy syndrome. Favorable seizure outcomes at the 5-year follow-up in the medication, resection surgery, and palliative surgery groups were 5.22%, 77.30%, and 14.14%, respectively. The patients showed varying degrees of improvement in terms of developmental and intellectual outcomes post-treatment. Conclusions: Pediatric patients with DRE were characterized by frequent seizures, a variety of seizure types, and complex etiology. Recurrent seizures severely affected the cognitive function and development of children. Early surgical intervention would be beneficial for seizure control and prevention of mental retardation. Palliative surgery was also a reasonable option for patients who were not suitable candidates for resection surgery.

Introduction: Ganglioglioma (GG) patients often present with seizures. Although most patients can be seizure-free after tumor resection, some still experience seizures. The present study aimed to analyze a group of GGs patients associated with epilepsy and evaluate the seizure outcomes and prognostic factors.Methods: This retrospective study involved clinical data collected from medical records of patients diagnosed with GG pathologically and underwent surgical resection in Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University. The seizure outcomes were evaluated based on the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) seizure outcome classification. The prognostic factors were identified according to univariate and multivariate analysis.Results: A total of 222 patients were included, with a mean age at surgery of 19.19 ± 10.93 years. All patients were followed up at least for one year with a mean follow-up duration of 6.28 ± 3.17 years. At the final follow-up, 174 (78.4%) patients achieved ILAE Class 1 or 2. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the short duration of seizures and gross total resection were significant positive factors for seizure-free. Bilateral interictal or ictal epileptiform discharges in preoperative video-electroencephalogram (VEEG) were related to poor seizure outcomes.Conclusion: Surgical resection is an effective treatment for patients with epilepsy associated with GGs. The analysis of predictive factors could effectively guide clinical practice and evaluate the prognosis of epilepsy with GG.

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is an advanced neuromodulation technology in disorders of consciousness (DOC) field. However, research on the modulation effects and mechanisms of SCS is limited. We proposed a study design (SCS and sham) to study the short-term effects of 20 minutes' SCS, in which resting state EEG and Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) were used to measure the changes in neural and behavioral activity caused by SCS. We used the Genuine Permutation Cross Mutual Information(G_PCMI) to analyze EEG data and study changes in cortical connectivity during SCS. Finally, all patients' CRS-R results were obtained after 6 months' SCS treatment. Short-term SCS (20 min) did not alter the patient's CRS-R score, but long-term SCS (6 months) can improve the CRS-R scores of all patients. EEG results show G_PCMI of the frontal and central brain regions significantly change before and after short-term SCS (p < 0.01) and PCMI of the F-P, F-O regions have significant differences before and after short-term SCS (p < 0.05). Besides, the G_PCMI changes in frontal, parietal, F-P and F-O regions show a significant positive correlation with CRS-R changes (r = 0.80, 0.66, 0.68 and 0.72; p < 0.05). However, the sham group showed no significant G_PCMI changes. SCS can improve the awareness level of DOC patients. SCS improves cortical short- and long-distance connectivity of DOC patients may contribute the improvement of consciousness level.

Purpose: Angiocentric glioma (AG), a benign tumor identified within the last two decades, was officially included in the 2007 WHO Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System, WHO grade I. The tumor is relatively rare, with only approximately 100 cases reported. We aim to complement the characteristics and long-term prognosis of AG, as well as to detect MYB-QKI fusions. Methods: The characteristics of all cases collected between 1 March 2009 and 1 March 2023 at the Beijing Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, were summarized and analyzed. Additionally, all fourteen patients were tested for MYB-QKI fusions. Results: AG more predominantly occurs in adolescents (median age 16.5-year-old), and commonly presents with drug-resistant epilepsy. AG is frequently localized in the supratentorial regions and only one patient is in the brainstem. Brain parenchyma atrophy, and stalk-like signs can observe in imaging. Pathologically, tumor cells are perivascular pseudorosettes, presenting immunoreactivity for GFAP, S-100, Vimentin, “dot-like” staining for EMA, and low proliferative activity. Focal cortex dysplasia was observed in four patients. Twelve of fourteen (85.7%) patients were found with MYB-QKI fusions. Completely surgical resection typically has a satisfactory prognosis with long-term follow-up. Conclusion: AG is a rare benign tumor with a favorable prognosis after complete resection, characterized by refractory epilepsy, frequently occurring in adolescents. MYB-QKI fusions were detected in most AG patients, as a good defining genetic alteration pathologically. The potential presence of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) may affect the prognosis of epilepsy.

Background: Dystonia is a condition that affects the ability to control the movement and function of the body’s muscles. It can cause not only physical problems, but also mental problems, resulting in impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, the effect of deep brain stimulation on quality of life in acquired dystonia remains unclear. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review from January 2000 to October 2022，determined the eligible studies, and performed a meta-analysis of HRQoL outcomes based on the Short-Form Health Survey-36 (SF-36) after DBS to evaluate the effects of DBS on physical and mental QoL. Results: A total of 14 studies met the inclusion criteria and were systematically reviewed. A comprehensive meta-analysis was performed for 9 studies that reported physical and psychological data or physical component summary (PCS), or mental component summary (MCS) for SF-36. The mean (SD) age at DBS implantation was 34.29 (10.3) years, and the follow-up period after implantation was 2.21 (2.80) years. The random effects model meta-analysis revealed that both physical and mental domains of the SF-36 improved following DBS. There was no statistically significant difference between the physical domains (effect size=1.34; p<0.0001) and the mental domains (effect size=1.38; p<0.0001). Conclusion: This is the first meta-analysis that demonstrates significant benefits in HRQoL following DBS in patients with acquired dystonia. There were significant improvements in both physical QoL and mental QoL.