Biomaterial Database

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP): update and reflections. 2009

Lina Nashef, and Philippe Ryvlin

Neurology Department, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, United Kingdom, SE5 9RS. Electronic address: lina.nashef@kch.nhs.uk.

SUDEP remains a significant clinical problem, which, in the authors' opinion, is to some extent potentially preventable. Research needs to focus on interventions that may alter risk. Some wide-ranging suggestions for future developments that in time can translate to clinical practice have been presented. These suggestions, the authors believe, give rise to cautious optimism.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D003645	Death, Sudden	The abrupt cessation of all vital bodily functions, manifested by the permanent loss of total cerebral, respiratory, and cardiovascular functions.	Sudden Death
D004827	Epilepsy	A disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of paroxysmal brain dysfunction due to a sudden, disorderly, and excessive neuronal discharge. Epilepsy classification systems are generally based upon: (1) clinical features of the seizure episodes (e.g., motor seizure), (2) etiology (e.g., post-traumatic), (3) anatomic site of seizure origin (e.g., frontal lobe seizure), (4) tendency to spread to other structures in the brain, and (5) temporal patterns (e.g., nocturnal epilepsy). (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p313)	Aura,Awakening Epilepsy,Seizure Disorder,Epilepsy, Cryptogenic,Auras,Cryptogenic Epilepsies,Cryptogenic Epilepsy,Epilepsies,Epilepsies, Cryptogenic,Epilepsy, Awakening,Seizure Disorders
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man