A Clinical Guide to Epileptic Syndromes and their Treatment

Affecting 4 percent of children and 1-2 percent of the general population, epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders. The 1st edition of this guide proved to be the only one of its kind, covering many important aspects of diagnosis and treatment. Due to the continued advances being made in the subject, and building on the sell-out success of the 1st edition this thorough revision reflects the latest report of the ILAE classification core group and the significant progress made in the diagnosis, classification and treatment of the epilepsies.

Chrysostomos Panayiotopoulos is an internationally renowned leader and expert in the field of neurology. He has worked for over 15 years as a Consultant in Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsies at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, UK. In addition to this, he holds several honorary titles including Honorary Senior Lecturer at Guys, Kings and St. Thomas' Medical school, Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Epileptology at Guy's Department of Paediatric Neurology, London. He has also been an invited professor to Harvard University and the University of Western Australia, where he was appointed Honorary Director of the Department of Neuropathology.

Dr. Panayiotopoulos has researched prolifically, investigating the clinical and neurophysiological investigations of the muscles, peripheral and central nervous system, with a particular focus on epilepsy. Moreover he has successfully secured more than a quarter of a million pounds of research funding.

Dr Panayiotopoulos has been an active contributor to a number of highly established peer-reviewed journals. He has written over 136 articles in English, in journals such as the Lancet, Brain, Neurology, Annals of Neurology and Archives of Neurology to name but a few. These papers have been cited more than 1000 times in leading journals such as the Lancet, Nature, Neurology and Muscle and Nerve. He has also published over 50 articles in Greek. He has been the invited author of over 44 chapters in neurology books. He has also sat on the editorial board of 'Annals of Saudi Medicine' and acted as a reviewer for: 'Brain', 'Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry', 'Muscle and Nerve', 'Epilepsia', 'Lupus', 'Journal of Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology', 'Epilepsy Research', and 'Seizure'.

Moreover his work on establishing the syndromic diagnosis of epilepsies and the appropriate video-EEG methodology for their diagnosis, has been regarded by some as ground breaking and he is recognised as one the leading authorities on epilepsy. He was appointed as one of the 12 members of the Commission on Classification and Terminology of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and subsequently as a key advisory member.

Dr. Panayiotopoulos is now Consultant emeritus in the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsies at St. Thomas' hospital, London and also has a consultancy with USB pharma, Brussels, Belgium. He is married with two children.

Author of:

Benign childhood partial seizures and related epileptic syndromes London: John Libbey and Co. (1999))

Early-onset benign childhood occipital seizure susceptibility syndrome: a syndrome to recognise. Epilepsia 1999: 40:621-630