Lindsey Shapiro, PhD, science writer —

Up to three years of treatment with the anti-seizure medication Fintepla (fenfluramine) did not result in any signs of valvular heart disease — damage to any of the heart’s four valves — or pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in children with Dravet syndrome. That’s according to new results from an…

The prevalence of Dravet syndrome in Sweden was one in 45,000 at the end of 2018, with most identified patients having a disease-causing mutation in the SCN1A gene, a study found. Data showed the rate of new diagnoses was higher, the age at diagnosis lower, and the use of contraindicated sodium…

Anticonvulsant therapies in the benzodiazepine class successfully suppressed nearly 62% of all episodes of status epilepticus in children with Dravet syndrome, a study reported, whereas second-line treatments were required in the remaining cases. As no identifiable clinical features could distinguish benzodiazepine (BZD) responders from non-responders, findings overall suggest that BZD…

A type of brain nerve cells, called parvalbumin-expressing (PV) interneurons, was able to generate electrical signals in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome, but failed to properly transmit them to neighboring cells, according to a recent study. This failure in a process called synaptic transmission may underlie the symptoms of Dravet…