ETIOLOGY AND DIAGNOSIS CHALLENGES OF EPILEPSY

The purpose of this review was to evaluate the challenges facing neurologist in the diagnosis of epilepsy, therefore, discussion of diagnostic procedures was demonstrated in this study, the second aim of this paper was to review the etiological factors associated with epilepsy. Detailed search and review of the literature was conducted using electronic databases, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and SCISEARCH; up to end of 2019, for studies reporting data on diagnosis and causes of epilepsy in all pollutions worldwide. Restriction to studies published in English and with human subjects was applied in our search strategies. It is evident that epilepsy is a complex and heterogeneous disorder with a long list of risk factors. We evaluated epilepsy etiologies and highlighted the primary risk-defining specifications as far as possible (injury severity, low grade tumors especially of temporal localization, early onset, genetic origin), which may promote prompt identification of a suitable target population (individuals at risk of establishing epilepsy). Variable significance of private etiologies (stroke, perinatal injury, infections in low earnings countries and existence of cofactors (other diseases or clinical symptoms) might cause region-specific epilepsy frequencies. Epilepsy is a medical diagnosis that is frequently based on medical history alone as healthcare providers hardly ever personally observe the patient's seizure activity. EEG is the most important diagnostic tool that may help in diagnosis, seizure category, and monitoring response to treatment