Revisions to ILAE Classification of Seizures and Epilepsies: Solomon Moshe, MD; Elissa Yozawitz, MD

"As we moved along, we realized that newborns represented a different group of patients because most of the seizures will appear as the patient is sleepy or even ‘comatose’ because they have suffered some type of hypoxia ischemia.”

In early February 2021, researchers from the Neonatal Seizures Task Force, a group established by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), published a position paper on a modification to the 2017 ILAE Classification of Seizures and Epilepsies. In summary, they call for an emphasis on the use of electroencephalography (EEG) in the diagnosis of seizures in the neonate, as well as including a classification of seizure types relevant to this age group.

They also describe how many neonatal seizures are electrographic, only with no evident clinical features, therefore, they should be included in a newly proposed classification. Additionally, clinical events without an electroencephalogram (EEG) correlate were not included in the modifications.

ILAE past president Solomon, L. Moshe, MD, Charles Frost Chair in Neurosurgery and Neurology, and Elissa Yozawitz, MD, director of Neonatal Neurology, both at Montefiore Medical Center, were part of the task force. They sat down with NeurologyLive to discuss how these revisions came about, and the significance they have on clinical care.

REFERENCE

Pressler RM, Cilio MR, Mizrahi EM, et al. The ILAE classification of seizures and the epilepsies: modification for seizures in the neonate. Position paper by the ILAE Task Force on Neonatal Seizures. Epilepsia. Published February 1, 2021. doi: 10.1111/epi.16815