Prevalence and predictors of antineuronal antibody positivity in focal epilepsy
Brief description of study
This study aims to determine how often patients with focal epilepsy carry antibodies targeting brain proteins, and when it occurs, what the associated clinical features are. Adult patients with focal epilepsy will be recruited from an epilepsy center, through the epilepsy clinic and/or monitoring unit, and undergo blood draw and lumbar puncture for serum and CSF collection. These samples will then be tested for antibodies targeting brain proteins in a laboratory specializing in neuro-immunology. Patients will undergo questionnaires regarding their seizure frequency and characteristics along with other common conditions in epilepsy such as depression, anxiety and psychosis. They will undergo bedside testing for cognitive impairment. Tests obtained in routine clinical care of epilepsy patients (EEG and MRI) will also be collected for the purposes of the research study. Each of these features will then be compared to antibody status.
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