Jesús Pastor

Hospital Universitario de La Princesa · Servicio de Neurofisiología

Background: We obtained microelectrode recordings from four patients with intractable aggressivity who underwent surgery at posteromedial hypothalamus under general anaesthesia. We described two general types of extracellular action potentials (EAPs): typical/canonical and atypical. Methods: We analysed 337 units and 67 traces, which were charac...

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) requires a precise localization, which is especially difficult at the hypothalamus, because it is usually performed in anesthetized patients. We aimed to characterize the neurophysiological properties posteromedial hypothalamus (PMH), identified by the best neurophysiological response to electrical stimulation. We obtai...

Introduction: Chronic post-hypoxic myoclonus is a condition in which the predominant clinical picture is myoclonus following hypoxic brain damage, usually due to cardiorespiratory arrest. It is a condition that is usually treated with antiepileptic drugs, in most cases with a modest clinical response. Case report: We report the case of a patient wh...

We have visually described and analyzed by means of quantifed EEG (qEEG) a highly unusual EEG pattern, not associated with cognitive or any other symptomatology. This pattern consists in an asymmetric highly stationary and highly synchronized trace through all the scalp, mainly composed by alpha-band rhythms. This anomalous pattern appears during q...

Background: Tarsal tunnel syndrome (TTS) is one of the most common entrapment syndromes. Although diagnosis is supported by imaging tests, it has so far been based on clinical findings. Neurophysiological tests are not effective for providing an accurate diagnosis. The objective of this study was to analyze the efficacy of the ultrasound-guided ne...

Background and importance: Deep brain stimulation of the posteromedial hypothalamus (PMH DBS) appears to be an effective treatment for drug-resistant aggressiveness. Weaver syndrome (WS) is a rare genetic disorder in which patients develop some degree of intellectual disability and rarely severe behavioral alterations that may benefit from this pr...

Deep brain stimulation (DBS), specifically thalamic DBS, has achieved promising results to reduce seizure severity and frequency in pharmacoresistant epilepsies, thereby establishing it for clinical use. The mechanisms of action are, however, still unknown. We evidenced the brain networks directly modulated by centromedian (CM) nucleus-DBS and resp...

Our objective was to describe the electrophysiological properties of the extracellular action potential (AP) picked up through microelectrode recordings (MERs). Five patients were operated under general anesthesia for centromedian deep brain stimulation (DBS). APs from the same cell were pooled to obtain a mean AP (mAP). The amplitudes and duration...

The two main problems in the daily clinical practice of EEG are i) its under-use dedicated mainly to epilepsy and ii) subjectivity in de visu analysis. However, both problems can be overcome by using numerical tools in clinical practice that broaden the scope and introduce real objectivity to bioelectrical measurements. We have developed a method f...

Dynamical changes in EEG bands for different lobes after listening of docecaphonic music (Schoenger), classical music (Mozart) and heavy metal (Volbeat) during 2 min each. Patient under sedo-analgesia.

Microelectrode recording (MER) in deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery has long been a recognized and efficient method for defining a target. However, in recent decades, imaging techniques, including DBS surgery, have experienced significant growth. There is convincing evidence that imaging-guided surgery can be helpful for targeting anatomically w...

Besides giving rise to oligodendrocytes (the only myelin-forming cell in the Central Nervous System (CNS) in physiological conditions), Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells (OPCs) are responsible for spontaneous remyelination after a demyelinating lesion. They are present along the mouse and human CNS, both during development and in adulthood, yet how O...

Objective: Video electroencephalography monitoring (VEM) is an important tool for the diagnosis and classification of seizures and for the presurgical evaluation of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of VEM in patients referred for differential diagnoses (epileptic events versus nonepileptic episo...

We used quantified electroencephalography (qEEG) to define the features of encephalopathy in patients released from the intensive care unit after severe illness from COVID-19. Artifact-free 120–300 s epoch lengths were visually identified and divided into 1 s windows with 10% overlap. Differential channels were grouped by frontal, parieto-occipital...

Epileptic seizures (ES) are frequent in critically ill patients and their detection and treatment are mandatory. However, sometimes it is quite difficult to discriminate between ES and non-epileptic bursts of periodic activity (BPA). Our aim was to characterize ES and BPA by means of quantified electroencephalography (qEEG). Records containing eith...

OBJECTIVE: Initial studies applying deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the posteromedial hypothalamus (PMH) to patients with pathological aggressiveness have yielded encouraging results. However, the anatomical structures involved in its therapeutic effect have not been precisely identified. The authors’ objective was to describe the long-term outcome...

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) requires precise localization, which is especially difficult at the thalamus, and even more difficult in anesthetized patients. We aimed to characterize the neurophysiological properties of the ventral intermediate (V.im), ventral caudal (V.c), and centromedian parvo (Ce.pc) and the magnocellular (Ce.mc) thalamic nuclei...

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) are responsible for spontaneous remyelination after a demyelinating lesion. They are present in large parts of the mouse and human central nervous system, both during development and in adulthood, yet how their physiological behavior is modified throughout life remains largely unknown. Moreover, the activity o...

Objective: During deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, we analysed somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) using microelectrode recordings (MERs) in patients under general anaesthesia. Methods: We obtained MERs from 5 patients with refractory epilepsy. Off-line analysis isolated local field potentials (LFPs, 2-200 Hz) and high frequency compone...

Background Superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS) is a clinical entity characterized by vertigo and oscillopsia in response to sound (Tullio phenomenon), pressure (Hennebert sign) and vestibular stimulation with Valsalva maneuvers, disequilibrium, autophony, bone-conductive hyperacusis and pulsatile tinnitus. Vestibular-evoked myogenic potential...

Background: Diagnostic methods of the epileptogenic area continue to be a challenge in epilepsy surgery research. We hypothesized that temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) will result in white matter changes that can be detected using diffusion tensor imaging. Measurement of white matter diffusivity will therefore be useful for presurgical assessment. Me...

Objective: Sedation of neurocritically ill patients is one of the most challenging situation in ICUs. Quantitative knowledge on the sedation effect on brain activity in that complex scenario could help to uncover new markers for sedation assessment. Hence, we aim to evaluate the existence of changes of diverse EEG-derived measures in deeply-sedate...

Hay un gran número de neurólogos y epileptólogos de origen latinoamericano que están dirigiendo y/o trabajando arduamente en el campo de la epilepsia. Cada año aumentan también las investigaciones y los especialistas en este campo. En el año 2013 salió a la luz el libro Epilepsia, un punto de vista latinoamericano. La idea fue hacer un esfuerzo con...

Purpose: To exploring and assessing the relationship between the electroencephalography (EEG) activity with the intracranial pressure (ICP) in patients suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH) during their stay at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Methods: We performed an observational prospective cohort study of a...

Aims: Simultaneous bilateral implantation of electrodes in the subthalamic nucleus for idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) is associated with long surgery time, language disorders and post-operative confusion. Moreover, there is evidence of ipsilateral improvement after stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus. In order to optimise perioperative ma...

INTRODUCTION. The response of the thalamus during the study with somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) is not sufficiently understood. CASE REPORT. A 17-year-old man undergoing surgery for deep brain stimulation in the centromedian nucleus for drug-resistant epilepsy under complete sedation. During the intervention, the responses to SSEPs of the t...

Background: Although there are few reports of radiofrequency lesions performed through deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes in patients with movement disorders, experience with this method is scarce. Methods: We present 2 patients who had been previously treated with DBS of subthalamic nuclei (STN) and the ventral intermediate (VIM) nucleus o...

Introduction: In partial seizures, from a clinical point of view or even from electroencephalography characterization of post-ictal period can be difficult. The spectral and complex network analysis could lead to a more accurate definition of its limits, as well as to a great understanding of the seizures. Patients and methods: Digital EEG recor...

The postictal period is characterized by several neurological alterations, but its exact limits are clinically or even electroencephalographically hard to determine in most cases. We aim to provide quantitative functions or conditions with a clearly distinguishable behavior during the ictal-postictal transition. Spectral methods were used to analyz...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease where immune-driven demyelination occurs with inefficient remyelination, but therapies are limited, especially those to enhance repair. Here, we show that the dual phosphodiesterase (PDE)7- glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)3 inhibitor, VP3.15, a heterocyclic small molecule with good pharmacokineti...

Background: Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) response is not immediate. A progressive decline in seizure frequency is usually found during a period of 12-18 months after implantation. During this time, the patient's medication is usually modified, which can create doubts about whether their clinical improvement is due to medication changes or to VNS...

Approximately 30% of epilepsy patients are refractory to antiepileptic drugs. In these cases, surgery is the only alternative to eliminate/control seizures. However, a significant minority of patients continues to exhibit post-operative seizures, even in those cases in which the suspected source of seizures has been correctly localized and resected...

Question The centro-median thalamic nucleus (Ce) must be correctly identified for deep brain stimulation (DBS). We have analysed the properties of Ce and surrounding nuclei in anaesthetized humans. Methods We recorded with microelectrodes in 6 patients bilaterally operated for intractable epilepsy, starting 10 mm from the target (coordinates x = 8...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2014/539140.].

Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Recent studies suggest that seizure generation may be caused by the abnormal activity of the entire network. This new paradigm requires new tools and methods for its study. In this sense, synchronization by linear as well as nonlinear measures are used to determine network structure and fu...

Neurosurgery can be considered a radical method to treat some illnesses and can seriously damage the nervous system. To avoid deleterious effects, such injuries must be detected during their initial development by means of intraoperative neurophysiological techniques (including intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) and functional mapp...

Context: Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most frequent drug-resistant epilepsy. It has a high success rate in surgical treatment, provided that the epileptic zone (EZ) was accurately localized through a pre-surgical evaluation and removed. Pharmacological activation inducing interictal activity is tested as a complementary method in the pre-surgical...

Objective: The current practice under which patients with refractory epilepsy are surgically treated is based mainly on the identification of specific cortical areas, mainly the epileptogenic zone, which is believed to be responsible for generation of seizures. A better understanding of the whole epileptic network and its components and properties...

Objective: Neural systems are comprised of interacting units, and relevant information regarding their function or malfunction can be inferred by analyzing the statistical dependencies between the activity of each unit. While correlations and mutual information are commonly used to characterize these dependencies, our objective here is to extend i...

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common central nervous system tumor. Despite progress in both medical and surgical treatments for this disease, the life expectancy associated with GBM is short; only a limited number of patients survive more than three years following diagnosis. When tumors are located in eloquent areas, the achievement of...

Introduction: The presence of a structural lesion in the preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of drug-resistant epilepsy patients has been usually associated with a favourable surgical outcome. We present our experience in our Epilepsy Surgery Unit. Patients and methods: Clinical records from 265 patients, operated on from 1990-2010 in...

Ring chromosome 20 syndrome is a rare genetic disorder, with a late diagnosis. A 43-year-old woman who had had refractory epilepsy since the age of six years, for which she was treated with deep brain stimulation of the centromedian nucleus, and also a ring chromosome 20. From the findings of the study it can be concluded that deep brain stimulatio...

Objective: Etomidate mimics some typical epileptic neurophysiological features, such as the appearance of spikes and high frequency oscillations, when it is administrated to epileptic patients. However, little is known about its influence on the underlying cortical network. An assessment of comparable cortical dynamics between seizures and etomida...