Epilepsy Case Studies

Seizures are the second most common neurologic condition, after headache. All physicians encounter patients who have seizures and may be called on to treat them. Therefore, a basic knowledge of seizure types, causes, and treatment strategies is useful. It also is helpful to be able to recognize some of the common epilepsy syndromes. This article reviews the definitions and terminology of seizures and epilepsy syndromes and uses case histories to describe typical scenarios likely to be encountered by primary care physicians and neurologists. Definitions A seizure is a brief disturbance of cerebral function, lasting from seconds to a few minutes, caused by an abnormal electrical discharge. Epilepsy is the tendency to have seizures on a chronic, recurrent basis, not resulting from a temporary condition. The term, epilepsy, does not presuppose a cause; there are myriad causes. Essentially, anything that disturbs the normal functioning of the cerebral cortex can cause seizures, and if this abnormality is enduring, it can result in epilepsy. Epilepsy affects approximately 1 % of children and 0.5 % of adults [1]. The difference results primarily from th