Poststroke Epilepsy and Cerebrovascular Disease: Carolina Ferreira Atuesta, MD, MSc

WATCH TIME: 5 minutes

“The goal’s of our study were mainly to identify the risk factors associated with a poststroke seizures and to actually determine the association between reperfusion and seizures.”

About 6%-8% of adults with ischemic stroke and 15% of adults with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) will experience late poststroke seizures; however, it is not well-known which patients are at increased risk of late poststroke epilepsy.

Carolina Ferreira Atuesta, MD, MSc, presented a talk on a multicenter study that centered around seizures after ischemic stroke during a session at the 2022 American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting, held December 2 to 6, in Nashville, Tennessee.¹ The session discussed different predictors of post-stroke epilepsy, including the location, as well as treatments in development for the condition. Additionally, it covered biomarkers based on MRI, and miRNA-mRNA networks as potential biomarkers for post-ischemic late seizures.

Results from the multicenter study demonstrated a higher risk of acute symptomatic seizures in those with more severe strokes, infarcts located in the posterior cerebral artery territory, and strokes caused by large-artery atherosclerosis.² In total, 6% (n =253) of 4,229 participants (mean age, 71 years, 57% men) from 8 European referral centers developed post-stroke epilepsy.

Ferreira, scientific researcher and clinical manager, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, sat down with NeurologyLive^® in an interview to talk about the inspiration behind conducting the study. Additionally, she further explained the conclusions that were made based on the findings, and the relationship between post-stroke seizures and stroke severity, etiology, and location.

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REFERENCES
1. Atuesta, F C. Seizures After Ischemic Stroke: A Matched Multicenter Study. Presented at: AES Annual Meeting; December 2-6, 2022; Nashville, TN, and virtual. SIG.
2. Ferreira-Atuesta C, Döhler N, Erdélyi-Canavese B, et al. Seizures after Ischemic Stroke: A Matched Multicenter Study. Ann Neurol. 2021;90(5):808-820. doi:10.1002/ana.26212