Impact of Genetic Testing on Therapeutic Decision-Making in Childhood-Onset Epilepsies - a Study in a Tertiary Epilepsy Center

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

We assessed the frequency of pediatric monogenic epilepsies and precision therapies at a tertiary epilepsy center. We analyzed medical records of children, born in 2006–2011 and followed at the Danish Epilepsy Center from January to December 2015; 357 patients were identified, of whom 27 without epilepsy and 35 with acquired brain damage were excluded. Of the remaining 295 children, 188 were consented for study inclusion and genetic testing. At inclusion, 86/188 had a preexisting genetic diagnosis and did not undergo further genetic testing. The 102 genetically unsolved patients underwent WES, which identified a (likely) pathogenic variant in eight patients and a highly relevant variant of unknown significance (VUS) in seven additional patients. Single nucleotide polymorphism array was performed in the remaining 87 patients and revealed no (likely) pathogenic copy number variants (CNVs). Patients with a genetic diagnosis had a significantly lower median age at seizure onset and more often had febrile seizures, status epilepticus, or neurodevelopmental impairment compared to those who remained genetically unsolved. Most common epilepsies were focal or multifocal epilepsies and developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DDEs). Fifty-three patients, with a putative genetic diagnosis, were potentially eligible for precision therapy approaches. Indeed, genetic diagnosis enabled treatment adjustment in 32/53 (60%); 30/32 (93%) patients experienced at least a 50% reduction in seizure burden while only 4/32 (12.5%) became seizure-free. In summary, a genetic diagnosis was achieved in approximately 50% of patients with non-acquired epilepsy enabling precision therapy approaches in half of the patients, a strategy that results in > 50% reduction in seizure burden, in the majority of the treated patients.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftNeurotherapeutics
Vol/bind19
Sider (fra-til)1353–1367
ISSN1933-7213
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2022

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the participants and their families for their participation in our research. Illustrations were created with BioRender.com. AB received financial support through the Disposition foundation (D51), the A.P. Møller foundation (20-L-0241), the Beckett foundation (21-2-7182), and the Grosserer L.F. Foghts foundation (22.030). The authors thank Dr. Claire Gudex for her contribution to editing the final draft of the article. The Danish Cytogenetic Central Registry study group consists of the following members: Mathilde Faurholdt Lauridsen, Christina Fagerberg, Tina Duelund Hjortshøj, Iben Bache, and Ida Vogel.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, Inc.

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