biology

Philippe Ryvlin

Philippe Ryvlin is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Philippe Ryvlin rather than just read about it. In short: Philippe Ryvlin is a neurologist and epilepsy researcher. He is a professor of neurology at the University of Lausanne and an affiliated professor at the University of Copenhagen.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Philippe Ryvlin is a neurologist and epilepsy researcher. He is a professor of neurology at the University of Lausanne and an affiliated professor at the University of Copenhagen. He has headed the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) since 1 January 2015. His research concerns epilepsy surgery, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), intracerebral electroencephalography (EEG), and wearable seizure detection. Ryvlin was the first author of MORTEMUS, a 2013 multinational study of cardiorespiratory arrests in epilepsy monitoring units. A 2017 review described the study as "a milestone in SUDEP research", and a 2023 bibliometric analysis identified it as the most-cited paper in its dataset of SUDEP publications. He is co-editor-in-chief, with Peter Goadsby, of Current Opinion in Neurology.

Education and career Ryvlin studied medicine in Paris from 1981 to 1987 and completed a neurology residency in Lyon from 1988 to 1994. He earned a master's degree in statistics and epidemiology in 1989 and a second master's degree in genetics and cytogenetics in 1993. From 1990 to 1991, he completed epilepsy fellowships at the Montreal Neurological Institute, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Zurich University Hospital. He received an MD and completed his specialist training in neurology in 1994, and completed a PhD in neuroscience in 1997. He was a professor of neurology at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 from 2000 to 2014. At the Hospices Civils de Lyon, he helped develop the epilepsy surgery programme and headed the Department of Functional Neurology and Epileptology in 2013–2014. He became a professor of neurology at the University of Lausanne in August 2014 and head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at CHUV on 1 January 2015. He has held an affiliated professorship in multimodal epilepsy surgery evaluation at the University of Copenhagen since January 2015.

Research A recurring theme of Ryvlin's clinical research has been drug-resistant focal epilepsy and its surgical treatment. A 2014 review co-authored by Ryvlin concluded that surgery is the most effective way to control seizures in carefully selected patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy, while noting that high-level evidence for most presurgical investigations remained lacking. In a 2011 meta-analysis of 112 placebo-controlled trials of adjunctive antiepileptic drugs in refractory epilepsy, Ryvlin, Michel Cucherat and Sylvain Rheims found that definite or probable SUDEP was significantly less frequent among patients receiving efficacious drug doses than among those receiving placebo. Ryvlin was the first author of the MORTEMUS study, published in The Lancet Neurology in 2013. It retrospectively surveyed cardiorespiratory arrests reported by epilepsy monitoring units in Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand in 2008–2009. The study identified 29 cardiorespiratory arrests: 16 SUDEP cases, nine near-SUDEP cases and four deaths from other causes. In the ten SUDEP cases with cardiorespiratory data, it found a recurring sequence after a generalised tonic-clonic seizure: rapid breathing followed by severe respiratory and cardiac dysfunction, with terminal apnoea preceding cardiac arrest. It estimated the incidence of SUDEP in adult monitoring units at 5.1 per 1,000 patient-years and concluded that closer supervision, particularly at night, was warranted. A 2017 review called MORTEMUS "a milestone in SUDEP research". A 2023 bibliometric analysis of 1,803 SUDEP-related publications from 2002 to 2022 identified MORTEMUS as the most-cited paper in its dataset. Ryvlin has also worked on digital health and large-scale data sharing in epilepsy. Within the European Human Brain Project, he led the Medical Informatics Platform and co-led the Human Intracerebral EEG Platform, a cloud-based collaborative environment in which epilepsy centres can share data and analyse intracerebral EEG recordings using common software tools.

Editorial work and awards Ryvlin is co-editor-in-chief, with Peter Goadsby, of Current Opinion in Neurology, and was one of the founders of the journal Epileptic Disorders. In 2015, the International League Against Epilepsy presented him with its Ambassador for Epilepsy Award, which recognises outstanding international contributions to activities advancing the cause of epilepsy.

References

External links Profile at Lausanne University Hospital

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Philippe Ryvlin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Philippe Ryvlin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Philippe Ryvlin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Philippe Ryvlin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Philippe Ryvlin

In research: Philippe Ryvlin appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Philippe Ryvlin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Philippe Ryvlin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of the University of Lausanne, Epileptologists, French academic journal editors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Philippe Ryvlin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Philippe Ryvlin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Philippe Ryvlin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Philippe Ryvlin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Philippe Ryvlin in simple terms?

Philippe Ryvlin is a neurologist and epilepsy researcher. He is a professor of neurology at the University of Lausanne and an affiliated professor at the University of Copenhagen.

Why does Philippe Ryvlin matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Philippe Ryvlin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Philippe Ryvlin.