てんかんジャーナル

Epilepsy Syndromes: Unveiled From Benign to Severe

Abstract

Brenda Southard

Epilepsy is a complex neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures, affecting millions of people worldwide. While epilepsy manifests in various forms and severity levels, it's crucial to understand the spectrum of syndromes it encompasses. From benign to severe, epilepsy syndromes offer insights into the diverse clinical presentations, underlying mechanisms and treatment strategies. Epilepsy syndromes refer to a group of disorders defined by specific clinical features, seizure types, age of onset, EEG findings and underlying etiologies. These syndromes provide clinicians with valuable information for accurate diagnosis, prognosis and treatment planning. While over forty epilepsy syndromes have been identified, they can be broadly categorized into focal (partial) and generalized epilepsies. Focal epilepsies, also known as partial epilepsies, originate from a localized area of the brain and may involve specific symptoms or behaviors depending on the brain region affected. These seizures can be further classified into simple partial seizures, complex partial seizures and secondary generalized seizures.