#TYPES OF SEIZURES AND DURATIONS FULL#

Focal seizures that cause altered awareness are called focal unaware seizures or complex partial seizures. If the abnormal electrical activity involves a large area of the brain, the person may feel confused or dazed, or experience minor shaking, muscle stiffening, or fumbling or chewing motions. Some people experiencing an aura describe a rising sensation in the stomach similar to riding on a roller coaster.Īs the seizure spreads across the brain, more symptoms appear. The person may have altered feelings or sense that something is about to happen (premonition). Focal Seizures: What Happensįocal seizures can start in one part of the brain and spread to other areas, causing symptoms that are mild or severe, depending on how much of the brain becomes involved.Īt first, the person may notice minor symptoms, which is referred to as an aura. Developmental scars - ones that occur as part of fetal and early growth of the brain - are common causes of focal seizures in children. Medical history or MRI will identify a cause (such as trauma, stroke or meningitis) in about half of the people who have focal seizures. They can be caused by any type of focal injury that leaves scar tangles. Focal, or Partial Seizuresįocal seizures are also called partial seizures since they begin in one area of the brain. Patients whose seizures are due to a focal scar or other lesions in the brain may be good candidates for epilepsy surgery. Seizures that are difficult to control may be improved with nerve stimulation or diet therapy. Whether or not the doctor can determine the cause for an individual’s seizures, treatment will likely mean medication. Focal and generalized onset seizures usually have different causes and accurately diagnosing seizure types often helps identify the cause for the seizures. It is important for the doctor to get an accurate seizure diagnosis in order to implement the most appropriate kind of treatment.

Seizures of all kinds are most commonly treated with medication, and, if they are difficult to control, with diet therapy, nerve stimulation or surgery.

Generalized onset seizures usually start during childhood and are similar to a thermostat surge or a light flash - abnormal regulation between parts of the brain causes the seizures.

They also can occur as “generalized onset” seizures in which seizure activity starts simultaneously over both sides of the brain.

Generalized seizures can start as focal seizures that spread to both sides of the brain.

Focal onset seizures start in one area and can spread across the brain and cause mild or severe symptoms, depending on how the electrical discharges spread.

There are two major classes or groups of seizures: focal onset and generalized onset.

#TYPES OF SEIZURES AND DURATIONS FULL#

Seizures symptoms vary and can include a sudden change in awareness or full loss of consciousness, unusual sensations or thoughts, involuntary twitching or stiffness in the body or severe stiffening and limb shaking with loss of consciousness (a convulsion.).

This may result from a number of possibilities including the bilateral propagation of some mesial temporal seizures and differences in ictal generators of the underlying networks. CONCLUSIONS: In this select group of patients there is a significant difference between the duration of complex partial seizures of mesial temporal and neocortical extratemporal origin with mesial temporal complex partial seizures being longer. In the MTLE group, patients with bilateral recording arrays had significantly longer median seizure durations (GD and FD) than those sampled with unilateral arrays. There were no significant differences between seizure durations when comparing MTLE group to NCTLE group, or comparing NCTLE group to NCXTLE group. Median GD for MTLE was 106 s, and for NCXTLE was 78 s. RESULTS: Complex partial seizure durations were significantly longer in the MTLE group compared to the NCXTLE group.

Patients were divided into three groups: mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), neocortical temporal lobe epilepsy (NCTLE), and neocortical extratemporal lobe epilepsy (NCXTLE). Seizure duration was defined as the time of earliest sustained ictal activity until the termination either in all electrodes (global duration, GD), or at the onset area (focal duration, FD). METHODS: Data were collected from patients undergoing presurgical evaluation with intracranial electrodes. The studies reported here investigate the duration of complex partial seizures in these populations using analyses of seizures recorded from intracranial arrays.

N2 - PURPOSE: The dynamics of partial seizures originating from neocortical and mesial temporal regions are thought to differ, yet there are no quantitative comparative studies. T1 - Duration of complex partial seizures: an intracranial EEG study.

Types of seizures and durations