News

New findings from the SENsE study on the role and impact of Epilepsy Specialist Nurses (ESNs) in Ireland have been published in the latest edition of the leading epilepsy journal Seizure.

The SENsE study was funded by Epilepsy Ireland and the Health Research Board and conducted by Prof Agnes Higgins at Trinity College Dublin. A number of other papers have already been published on the valuable role played by ESNs in delivering epilepsy care in Ireland.

Researchers from the French National Health Insurance (CNAM) have just published a nationwide study of pregnancies ending between January 2011 and March 2015 to examine links between exposure to monotherapy with 10 different AEDs during the first two months of pregnancy and the risk of 23 specific major congenital malformations (MCMs). The study is published in the journal Neurology.

A Dutch research team have warned that strobe lighting at electronic dance music (EDM) festivals can raise the risk of epileptic seizures.

The study, published this week in the BMJ Open, examined 28 EDM festivals in Holland during 2015 for the rates of seizures linked to exposure to strobe lighting. The rates of seizures were more than three times higher for night-time events (30) than for daytime events (9).

Congratulations to Sinéad Murphy on her appointment as a Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner (RANP) for Women with Epilepsy. A RANP is a nurse who is an autonomous practitioner, responsible for advanced levels of decision-making and managing a patient caseload.

A new study led by FutureNeuro at RCSI has found a pattern of molecules that appear in the blood before a seizure happens. The researchers say that the discovery may lead to the development of an early warning system, which would enable people with epilepsy to know when they are at risk of having a seizure.

To mark National Epilepsy Week, the Medication Safety Minute Team in conjunction with Dr Colin Doherty, Epileptologist in St. James’s Hospital, have produced an excellent series of four short videos to highlight the risks associated with sodium valproate (Epilim) if taken during pregnancy.

The term circadian disruption relates to disturbances in a person's "internal body clock" that regulates the 24-hour cycle of biological processes. The transition to daylight saving time (DST - putting the clocks forward for summer) is an annual event that can cause circadian disruption.

GW Pharmaceuticals have announced positive top-line results of a new randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 clinical trial of Epidiolex in the treatment of seizures associated with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC).

A Phase 3 study presented at the American Academy of Neurology's Annual Meeting in Philadelphia has provided new evidence of the benefits of pharmaceutical-grade cannabidiol (Epidiolex) in treating Dravet Syndrome. Dravet Syndrome is an infantile onset developmental and epileptic encephalopathy associated with drug-resistant seizures.

By Brian Geraghty, Epilepsy Care Foundation & Prof. Norman Delanty, Beaumont Hospital and RCSI

The Epilepsy Care Foundation has purchased land for the development of an All-Ireland Epilepsy Care and Research Centre (AIEC).