Circadian and multi-day cycles ‘prevalent’ in focal epilepsy
But seizure cycles don't seem to be affected by weekdays and weekends, researchers say
Circadian, multi-day and even roughly annual cycles of seizures occur in people with refractory focal epilepsy, researchers say.
Swiss-led investigators studied 222 adults with medically refractory focal epilepsy who had been participants in a trial of a responsive neurostimulation therapeutic device (NeuroPace Inc) that also provided long-term recordings of brain activity.
The median length of recording was 5.9 years with some patients having almost a decade of EEG recordings plus seizure diaries.
“Using these recordings, we found cycles of brain activity of various durations — daily, multi-day, and annual — and we characterised their strength and prevalence,” said coauthor Dr Vikram Rao of the UCSF Epilepsy Centre, in San Francisco, US.
