Epilepsy and epileptic syndrome

Results and Discussion. Etiology. Epilepsy is a polyetiological disease. A number of negative factors play a significant role in its development, including genetic, brain injuries, congenital anomalies, infections, metabolic disorders, intoxications, neurodegeneration and vascerebrovascular diseases[1, 320]. It is known from the etiology of the disease that any pathological factors that dramatically alter the bioelectrical activity of the cerebral hemispheres can cause epilepsy.Under the influence of such factors, epileptogenic foci are formed in the cortex. The group of highly excited neurons located in the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres is called the epileptogenic foci. Depending on the etiology, epilepsy is divided into 3 major groups:

1. Idiopathic epilepsy is an epilepsy that develops due to hereditary predisposition. In this epilepsy, there are no structural changes in the brain, and no pathological changes in the neurological status. Idiopathic epilepsy occurs both familially and sporadically.

2. Symptomatic epilepsy is an epilepsy that develops due to brain damage (effects). The main causes of the disease are brain injuries, tumors, vascular diseases, degenerative diseases, metabolic and toxic encephalopathies. Symptomatic epilepsy is mainly characterized by focal seizures.

3. Cryptogenic epilepsy - epilepsy of unknown cause. Any epilepsy of unknown cause is classified as a cryptogenic epilepsy. Focal and diffuse epileptic attacks are also distinguished. Epileptogenic foci in the brain; if it stays in one place - focal, neuronal movements spread to other areas and both hemispheres - diffuse epileptic attacks develop. Disseminated epileptic attacks, any attacks that present with loss of consciousness are called diffuse epileptic attacks. These include various absence, diffuse tonic-clonic or separate clonic and tonic, atonic (astatic) and myoclonic attacks. The diagnosis of “disseminated epilepsy” is made only if the patient is unconscious. If the epileptic attacks occupy half of the body but the patient retains consciousness, it is focal epilepsy, not widespread epilepsy. Thus, loss of consciousness is a key criterion for diagnosing generalized epilepsy. The word “disseminated” does not mean that epileptic seizures have spread throughout the body, but that epileptic activity has spread to both hemispheres. Therefore, absence also belong to the group of widespread epilepsy. Disseminated epilepsy accounts for almost 40% of all epilepsies.

Absence [French. abscess - an epileptic seizure characterized by a very short loss of consciousness (2-30 seconds). They are among the most common epileptic attacks. For example, in children with absence epilepsy, there are more than 50 or 100 absence attacks a day. For absc, peak-wave activity with a frequency of 3 Gs, which is symmetrically reflected in the EEG, is very typical. This type of epilepsy is more common in children and adolescents. No aura is observed in abscesses. Abscesses are divided into simple and complex types. In a normal abscess, the patient freezes to a point. At this point, her pupils dilate, she is not affected by light, and her face turns pale. The patient freezes in the state in which he is doing what he is doing, that is, he stops speaking, writing, writing, drawing, painting, and so on. But it does not lose its balance, it does not fall.

This means that the patient freezes like a statue in the same position as he was during the attack. This lasts for a short time, 5-15 seconds. After the abscess, the patient resumes his work. Normal abscesses pass at the same rate as they appear. The patient does not know what happened to him or learn from others. During normal abscesses, the eyeball may rotate once or twice or the head may move backwards. After simple abscesses, the patient does not recover, his activity does not slow down, he resumes his activities as a healthy person.