Date updated: June 01, 2009
Content provided by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Also called: Fits, Seizures, Convulsions

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures or convulsions. The seizures are caused due to abnormal neural activity of the brain. More than 50 million people are affected world wide. Treatment is limited to control of the severity of the symptoms. In severe conditions surgery can be an option, but the prognosis is very poor. Still about 30% of the patients do not respond to any treatment. Epilepsy can be life long or can be confined to a particular stage of childhood. Epilepsy is not caused by a single factor, but is precipitated by a number of factors. The commonality in all these factors are: they all lead to abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Epilepsies may be classified according to the cause, manifestation of the seizures, site of origination of the seizures in the brain, identifiable medical syndromes, and the event that triggers the seizures.

Diagnosis of Epilepsy:

The diagnosis usually made is based on the medical history. Imaging and measurement technologies such as EEG (electroencephalography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography), PET (positron emission tomography), and MEG (magnetoencephalography) are used to diagnose the causes and the etiology of the seizures.