Adult Epilepsy

00:01 Let’s move on to adult epilepsy.

00:03 Most adult onset epilepsy causes are partial onset seizures.

00:07 What’s partial mean, please? Focal. How much of the brain? Good, hemisphere.

00:13 How many types of partials do we look at or did you look at? You looked at the simple and you looked at the complex.

00:21 With the complex, you could have automatism.

00:25 Before we move on tell me about the consciousness, the description? You have loss and impairment. For focal you’re focusing upon impairment.

00:36 Lack of impairment, simple; impairment of consciousness, complex and automatisms.

00:44 Most commons cause, idiopathic.

00:47 Understand, what particular part of the brain is not susceptible to a focal type of seizure? It’s the medial temporal lobe. Medial temporal lobe, and that’s a clinical pearl here.

01:00 Tumors are much more common cause in adults than would be in children, that’s an important point.

01:06 In the elderly, stroke, by far 70% are because of adult epilepsy in the elderly would be stroke, cerebral vascular accident. It could be trauma, it could be tumor.

01:19 Metabolic disturbances, what does that mean to you? You have maybe liver disease or perhaps kidney disease are frequent causes.

01:26 Electrolyte issues such as hypomagnesaemia.

01:29 Once again, urinary tract infection perhaps, medication related and from maybe benzo withdrawal, that’s a big point.

01:39 If you withdraw from benzo perhaps your patient may present with epilepsy.