AES 2023 | Updated guidelines for the classification of neonatal epilepsy syndromes

Elissa Yozawitz, MD, FAES, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, speaks on the updated International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classification and definition of neonatal epilepsy syndromes. These guidelines, developed by the ILAE Task Force on Nosology and Definitions, aim to provide definitions of electroclinically defined neonatal epilepsy syndromes to support clinicians with diagnosis and to reflect the emergence of syndrome-specific, precision medicine strategies. Dr Yozawitz discusses the division of epilepsy syndromes into self-limited syndromes and developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), commenting on mandatory and exclusionary features for the common syndromes. Importantly, the guidelines emphasize the importance of classifying epilepsy in an individual both by syndrome and etiology, introducing the concept of epilepsy syndromes determined primarily by etiology. Etiology-specific epilepsy syndromes are due to specific genetic, structural, metabolic, immune or infectious etiologies and have a clearly defined clinical phenotype and electrographic features. This interview took place during the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 2023 Annual Meeting congress in Orlando, FL.

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