There are several different types of comorbidities exist in epilepsy. Cognitive comorbidities are learning problems that cause difficulty in school and can have lasting effects on educational and professional success; Psychiatric comorbidities are behavior and mood problems including attention deficit disorder, depression, anxiety disorders and combinations of these conditions. Comorbidities in epilepsy impair patients’ health-related quality of life and may affect the clinical course of epilepsy. Comorbidities and epilepsy have a bidirectional relationship, sharing common underlying pathogenesis. This special issue updated readers with some of the most recent and exciting progresses including mechanisms, evaluation biochemical biomarkers for epilepsy and comorbidities as well as therapy aim to modify the progression of epilepsy (disease modification) and concomitant comorbidities through by targeting the disease process. It is hoped that such advances in cognitive neuroscience and psychiatry will translate into routine epilepsy clinical practice and provide markers of disease and more targeted treatments. The potential limitations and future efforts with open questions were also offered to stimulate the further research endeavors in the field.
In this special issue, we are delighted to present the invited papers to highlight the recent achievements in epilepsy and associated comorbidities.
The major topics in this issue include
- Comorbidities of refractory epilepsy and the update mechanism
- MicroRNAs in the pathophysiology of epilepsy and associated comorbidities
- Abonormal brain network in epilepsy and associated comorbidities
- Schizophrenia-like psychosis of epilepsy
- Mechanisms of vegus nerve stimulation for epilepsy and associated comorbidities
- Mechanisms of deep brain stimulation for epilepsy and associated comorbidities
- Efficacy of deep brain stimulation in the treatment of epilepsy and associated comorbidities
- Age effect on cognition improvements after unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy in adults with temporal lobe epilepsy
- Efficacy of foci resection and bipolar electrocoagulation on functional cortex in the treatment of epilepsy and associated comorbidities in tuberous sclerosis complex.
In conclusion, the special issue updates readers with some of the most recent and exciting advances and developments in epilepsy and associated comorbidities. The papers in this special issue also discuss the potential limitation of the results and address some of the open questions in the field. We hope that these publications are able to provide novel and insightful information to reader’s further understanding of the relationship between epilepsy and several comorbidities, evaluating physiological, neuroimaging, biochemical biomarkers, as well as strategies for managing comorbidity of psychiatric illness and epilepsy.
