Successful treatment of epileptic encephalopathy with spike wave activation in sleep with anakinra

Andy Cheuk-Him Ng; Morris H Scantlebury

doi:10.1016/j.ebr.2024.100678

Successful treatment of epileptic encephalopathy with spike wave activation in sleep with anakinra

Epilepsy Behav Rep. 2024 May 25:27:100678. doi: 10.1016/j.ebr.2024.100678. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Andy Cheuk-Him Ng^{1

2

3}, Morris H Scantlebury^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
² Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
³ Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta and Stollery Children's Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Abstract

Patients with epileptic encephalopathy with spike wave activation in sleep (EE-SWAS) often display drug-resistant epilepsy. The activation of epileptic activity during sleep is associated temporally with neurocognitive impairment and causes a spectrum of disorders within the epilepsy-aphasia syndrome. The prognosis is dependent on promptness of treatment and etiology. However, there is no clear consensus with regards to the optimal management for patients with EE-SWAS. We queried our Pediatric Epilepsy Outcome-Informatics Project (PEOIP) database for all patients treated with anakinra in our centre. We herein report a case of a female with EE-SWAS, who demonstrated remarkable neurocognitive improvement with anakinra. We suggest that a trial of anakinra may be an option for patients with EE-SWAS due to non-structural and possibly inflammatory etiology.

Keywords: Anakinra; CSWS; DEE-SWAS; Drug-resistant epilepsy; EE-SWAS; ESES; Epilepsy; Epileptic encephalopathy with spike wave activation in sleep.

Publication types

Case Reports