Photo Credit: Andrey Popov

More than half of patients with SCN8A-related self-limited infantile epilepsy (SeLIE) continue to experience seizures into late childhood, according to findings published in Epilepsia. Lynette Sadleir, MD, and colleagues investigated epilepsy progression in patients with SCN8A-related SeLIE. Through a review of the literature, they identified nine new cases and reviewed 29 previously reported cases. While SeLIE typically resolves by age 3, study results showed a significant number of patients continued to have seizures into later childhood. Among 22 patients followed until at least 10 years of age, 59% experienced seizures past age 3, and 36% continued to have seizures past age 10. Although seizures responded to sodium channel-blocking antiseizure medications, they often recurred after weaning. This persistence contrasts with other SeLIE etiologies, suggesting a more prolonged but manageable epilepsy in SCN8A-SeLIE cases, according to the study results.