PowerPoint Presentation on Epilepsy.

1. Epilepsy
• Presented to:
Dr. Qasim Shah
• Presented by:
Sheraz Saeed (2017-bc-004)

2. Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a central nervous system (neurological) disorder in which
brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of
unusual behavior, sensations, and sometimes loss of awareness.
Anyone can develop epilepsy. Epilepsy affects both males and females
of all races, ethnic backgrounds and ages.

3. • Epilepsy is not contagious
• It is not a mental illness
• Or a cognitive disability
The neurological dysfunction seen in epilepsy can :
• Begin at birth
• Childhood
• Adolescence
• Even in adulthood

4. Classification
Partial Seizures
A partial seizure happens when unusual electrical activity affects a
small area of the brain.
• Common
• 80% Patients
Simple Partial Seizures
When the seizure does not affect awareness, it is known as a
simple partial seizure. Simple partial seizures can be:
Motor - affecting the muscles of the body.

5. Signs and Symptoms
• motor – convulsive jerking, chewing motions, lip smacking
• Sensory & somatosensory – paresthesias, auras
• Automatic – sweating, flushing, pupil dilation
• Behavioural – hallucinations, dysphasia, impaired consciousness (rare).
Complex Partial Seizures
A complex partial seizure is a type of seizure that arises in one lobe of the
brain, rather than the whole brain. The seizure affects people's awareness
and may cause them to lose consciousness.
• affected person may wander about aimlessly
• aggressive behaviour (violence)
• visual, auditory, or olfactory hallucinations

6. Generalized Seizures
A generalized seizure occurs when the abnormal electrical activity
causing a seizure begins in both halves (hemispheres) of the brain at
the same time. Generalized seizures include:
Absence, Atonic, Tonic, Clonic, Tonic-clonic, Myoclonic, and
Febrile Seizures.

7. 1. Absence seizures
An absence seizure causes you to blank out or stare into space for a few
seconds. They can also be called petit mal seizures. Absence seizures are most
common in children and typically don't cause any long-term problems. These
types of seizures are often set off by a period of hyperventilation.
2. Atonic
Atonic seizures are a type of seizure that causes sudden loss of muscle strength.
These seizures are also called akinetic seizures, drop attacks or drop seizures. The
sudden lack of muscle strength, or tone, can cause the person to fall to the ground.
The person usually remains conscious, and may not always fall down

8. 3. Tonic
A tonic seizure causes a sudden stiffness or tension in the
muscles of the arms, legs or trunk. The stiffness lasts about
20 seconds and is most likely to happen during sleep. Tonic
seizures that occur while the person is standing may cause
them to fall.
4. Clonic
Clonic seizures are characterized by repeated jerking
movements of the arms and legs on one or both sides of the
body, sometimes with numbness or tingling. If it is a focal
(partial) seizure, the person may be aware of what's happening.
During a generalized seizure, the person may be unconscious.

9. 5. Tonic-Clonic
• Sudden loss of consciousness
Tonic phase:
• Patient become rigid & falls to the ground
• Respiration are interrupted
• Back arches
• Lasts about 1min
Clonic phase:
• Rapid muscle jerking
• Muscle flaccidity
• Incontence, tongue biting, tachy cardia, heavy salvation
During postictal phase:
• Head ache, confusion, nausea, drowsiness, disorientation
• May last for hours

10. 6. Myoclonic seizures
Myoclonic seizures are brief shock-like jerks of a muscle or
group of muscles. They occur in a variety
of epilepsy syndromes that have different characteristics.
During a myoclonic seizure, the person is usually awake and
able to think clearly
7. Febrile Seizures
A febrile seizure, also known as a fever fit or febrile
convulsion, is a seizure associated with a high body
temperature but without any serious underlying health issue.
They most commonly occur in children between the ages of
6 months and 5 years.

11. Unclassified Seizures
A seizure may be unclassified due to inadequate information to allow it to
be placed in the focal, generalized or unknown onset categories. This may
occur if it was not witnessed at onset, and if results of investigations
(such as EEG and imaging) are not yet available
Neonatal Seizures
A seizure is caused by sudden, abnormal and excessive
electrical activity in the brain. By definition, neonatal
seizures occur during the neonatal period for a full-term
infant, the first 28 days of life. Most occur in the first one
to two days to the first week of a baby's life.

12. Status Epilepticus
(SE) is a single seizure lasting more than five minutes or two or more
seizures within a five-minute period without the person returning to normal
between them.
Causes:
• High fever, especially in infants
• Drug use, alcohol withdrawal
• Near-drowning or lack of oxygen from another cause
• Metabolic disturbances
• Head trauma
• Brain tumor, infection, stroke
• Complication of diabetes or pregnancy

13. Causes of Epilepsy
• Stroke
• Brain tumor
• Brain infection
• Past head injury
• Drug use, alcohol withdrawal
• Metabolic problems
• Other neurological conditions
• High fever, especially in infants
• Genetic factors

14. PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
Paroxysmal discharges in cortical
neurons A seizure originates from
grey matter of any cortical or
subcortical area
Abnormal firing of
neurons
Breakdown of normal
membrane conductance &
inhibitory synaptic currents
Locally Widely
Focal
Seizures
Generalized
Seizures

15. • Abnormality of Potassium conductance
• Defect in voltage sensitive ion channels
• Deficiency in membrane ATPase
Neuron membrane instability
seizures

16. Deficiency of inhibitory neurotransmitters
Increase in excitatory neurotransmitters
Abnormal neuronal activity
Seizure

17. Tests for Epilepsy
The specialist may suggest having a test to check your brain activity called an
electroencephalogram (EEG), or a brain scan to look for any problem in your brain. But if
these tests do not show anything, it's still possible you have epilepsy, and you may
be diagnosed just based on your symptoms.
Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography is an electrophysiological
monitoring method to record electrical activity of the brain.
It is typically noninvasive, with the electrodes placed along
the scalp, although invasive electrodes are sometimes used,
as in electrocorticography, sometimes called intracranial EEG

18. Neurological Imaging Studies
*Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
*Functional MRI (fMRI)
*Computed Tomography (CT)
*Positron emission tomography (PET)
*Single-photon emission computerized tomography
(SPECT)
MRI
SPECT