Epilepsy and Movement Disorders

The boundaries between epilepsy and movement disorders are difficult to define; some syndromes or diseases may combine the two and many manifestations of one are similar to the other. For the first time, a distinguished, international team of specialists comprehensively examines the clinical, neurophysiological, genetic, pharmacological and molecular factors which underlie the relationships and differences between the two disorders. They examine the methods for investigating motor cortex excitability and the electrophysiological and chemical characteristics of epilepsies which resemble movement disorders. They present a scheme for neurophysiological classification of myoclonic epilepsies and myoclonus and give a detailed analysis of the disorders which cause diagnostic problems in children and adults. There is also an innovative, up-to-date review of the genetic syndromes which associate epilepsy and paroxysmal dyskinesias, and a review of the drugs used to treat, or which may precipitate, epilepsy and movement disorders. This is essential reading for clinicians and neuroscientists.

DOB 25 Nov 1956 Dr Guerrini is currently Head of the Centre for Epilepsy, King's College Hospital, London, and Professor of Epileptology at the GKT Medical School, University of London. His research activities focus on the nosology of human epilepsies, with special attention to their clinical phenomenology, pathophysiology and their genetic and neuropathological basis. Professor Geurrini was awarded his medical degree at the University of Perugia. He obtained his postgraduate training and degrees in neurology at the University of Perugia, in pediatric neurology at the University of Pisa, and in neurophysiology at the University of Aix-Marseilles. He underwent postgraduate training in epilepsy at the Centre Saint Paul, Marseilles. Professor Guerrini was Head of Research in Neurophysiology and Epilepsy at the Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Pisa and the Institute for Medical Research, Stella Maris Foundation, Pisa, where he coordinated numerous research projects on epilepsy and on brain malformations. In Italy he obtained the national qualification of Associate Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Psychiatry in 1999. He is an elected member of the Directory of the Italian League against Epilepsy and a Key Member of the Commission on Pediatrics of the International League against Epilepsy. Professor Guerrini serves on the editorial board of Epilepsia, the Journal of Child Neurology and Epileptic Disorders. He has contributed several scientific papers published in internationally peer-reviewed medical journals and books. He is well known for his work on the clinical and genetic aspects of epileptogenic cortical dysplasias, myoclonus, photosensitive epilepsies and the epileptic syndromes.

Born 1926. Formerly Director of Investigation, French National Institute of Medical Research, Head Neurological Unit, Hospital for Sick Children, Paris. Visiting professor and invited lecturer in the United States, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Japan, South America. Recipient of the Hower Award (Child Neurology Society); the Cornelia de Lange Medalion (Dutch Child Neurology Society); the Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award (American Epilepsy Society), etc.

DOB: 22 Oct 1943. Dr Hallett is currently Chief of the Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch. his research activities focus on the physiology of human voluntary movement and its pathophysiology in disordered voluntary movement and involuntary movement. Dr Hallet obtained his undergraduate and medical degree at Harvard University and had his neurology training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He had fellowships in neurophysiology at the NIH and in the Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry in London. Before coming to NIH, Dr Hallett was the Chief of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr Hallett is active in the fields of Clinical Neurophysiology and Movement Disorders. He has served as the President of the American Association of Electrodiagnostic Medicine and the International Medical Society of Motor Disturbances and is now President of the Movement Disorder Society. Dr Hallett organised the first International Congress of Movement Disorders in Washington, DC. Dr Hallett serves on a number of editorial boards and medical advisory boards of lay organisations. He has published many scholarly contributions to the medical literature. He is well known for his work on the classification of myoclonus and his studies on the physiology and pathophysiology of voluntary movement including dystonia. He has been one of the pioneers in the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation for the study of the central nervous system and the therapeutic use of botulinum toxin. Recently a major focus of his research has been the plasticity of the human motor system.