Definition
- A seizure is a paroxysmal event due to abnormal, excessive, hypersynchronous discharges from an aggregate of central nervous system (CNS) neurons.
- Seizures can have various manifestations, ranging from dramatic convulsive activity to experiential phenomena not readily discernible by an observer.
- Epilepsy describes a condition in which a person has recurrent seizures due to a chronic, underlying process.
- For discussion of specific epilepsy disorders, see:
- Partial (or focal) seizures
- Originate in a localized area of cortex
- Simple-partial seizures do not affect consciousness and may have motor, sensory, autonomic, or psychiatric symptoms.
- Complex-partial seizures include alteration in consciousness coupled with automatisms (e.g., lip smacking, chewing, aimless walking, or other complex motor activities).
- Generalized seizures
- Involve diffuse regions of the brain in a bilateral symmetric fashion
- May occur as a primary disorder or may result from secondary generalization of a partial seizure
- Tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal)
- Sudden loss of consciousness
- Loss of postural control
- Tonic muscular contraction producing teeth-clenching and rigidity in extension (tonic phase), followed by rhythmic muscular jerking (clonic phase)
- Absence seizures (petit mal)
- Sudden, brief impairment of consciousness without loss of postural control
- Other types of generalized seizures are atypical absence, infantile spasms, tonic, atonic, and myoclonic seizures.
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