Eight drugs to be trialled for genetic epilepsy syndrome
Researchers at the University of South Australia are to trial a number of drugs as potential treatment for children with the genetic epilepsy syndromes malignant migrating focal seizures of infancy (MMFSI).
Professor Leanne Dibbens will lead a trial of eight potential therapies in children with MMPSI, which is caused by mutations in KCNT1, a gene responsible for regulating neuron activity in the CNS.
“We will be investigating a range of FDA-approved drugs that have been identified to limit the effects of the potassium gene mutation, and in this way, we hope to identify a high potential drug to treat this type of severe epilepsy,” she said.
“Children with MMPSI are very unwell, suffering multiple seizures every day. The disorder affects brain development, which means these children also have very impaired motor skills and severe intellectual disabilities.
Professor Dibbens said quinidine had already been trialled in a number of children, but with little improvement, so there was an acute need for new drugs to treat children with KCNT1 mutations.
Endovascular therapy for large infarction strokes
Endovascular therapy may have benefit in acute stroke patients with large infarctions despite concerns that bleeding will occur in the area of infarction after reperfusion, a Japanese study shows.
In trial involving 203 patients with large ischaemic regions of acute stroke ( ASPECTS value of 3 to 5), those randomised to endovascular therapy had better functional outcomes at 90 days (a modified Rankin scale score of 0 to 3) compared with those who received standard medical care alone