144: Differentiating Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut: Diagnosis, Research, and What’s Ahead

Welcome to the NeurologyLive® Mind Moments® podcast. Tune in to hear leaders in neurology sound off on topics that impact your clinical practice.

In this episode, "Differentiating Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut: Diagnosis, Research, and What’s Ahead," Joseph Sullivan, MD, director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Center at UCSF, joins Mind Moments to discuss the clinical distinctions between Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS). Sullivan outlines the unique diagnostic profiles, seizure presentations, and genetic underpinnings of each disorder, while also addressing how genetic testing has transformed the approach to Dravet syndrome in particular. He speaks on the future of targeted therapies, highlighting ongoing research in disease-modifying treatments and n-of-1 trials, especially for ultra-rare epilepsies. Additionally, Sullivan explores how the clinical trial landscape is evolving—emphasizing the need for biomarkers, innovative trial design, and better tools for seizure monitoring to improve outcomes in these complex pediatric epilepsies.

Looking for more Epilepsy discussion? Check out the NeurologyLive® Epilepsy clinical focus page.

Episode Breakdown:

• 1:00 – Key differences in phenotype and diagnosis between Dravet syndrome and LGS
• 3:00– The evolution of genetic testing and how it’s improved Dravet diagnosis and outcomes
• 5:25 – Opportunities and limitations in scaling genetic testing more broadly
• 6:35 – Neurology News Minute
• 8:45 – Research pipelines: disease-modifying therapies, n-of-1 trials, and future directions
• 10:20 – Innovations in clinical trial design and the need for better seizure monitoring and biomarkers

The stories featured in this week's Neurology News Minute, which will give you quick updates on the following developments in neurology, are further detailed here:

• European Commission Approves Efgartigimod Subcutaneous Injection for Forms of CIDP
• FDA Greenlights Expanded Indication for Vizamyl in Alzheimer Disease Diagnosis
• Grace Therapeutics Submits NDA for GTX-104 to Treat Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

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