Epilepsy and Brain Injury

Seizure

When people think seizure, they typically think grand mal seizures, the type where people collapse into convulsions. However, seizure activity encompasses a wide spectrum of abnormal electrical and chemical activity within the brain. The below article provides an explanatory model of this wide range of symptoms, which often occur after a brain injury.

Seizure

Characteristics and mechanisms of epilepsy spectrum disorder:

Abstract Recently, a complex neurobehavioral disorder with paroxysmal affective, psycho sensory, and cognitive symptoms has been described by a number of different neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological practitioners. Although a variety of different terms have been used to characterize this clinical entity, the recently coined term epilepsy spectrum disorder (ESD) will be used for the purposes of this article. The clinical identification, neuropsychological characteristics, differential diagnosis, etiology, and treatment responses of such patients will be reviewed. The possible neuropathological and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying ESD and implications for future research will be discussed. It is argued that neuropsychologists should be more familiar with this syndrome because such patients are frequently referred for neuropsychological assessment when practitioners from medical disciplines are confused by the atypical polysymptomatic clinical presentations of ESD patients.

Applied Neuropsychology, 1995: 2: 1-6 © Munksgaard, 1995. Accepted January 25, 1995.

Within the past decade, an increasing number of clinical neurobehavioral studies have described patients who present with multiple paroxysmal affective, psychosensory, and cognitive complaints (Blumer et al. 1998, Goldstein 1984, Neppe & Kaplan 1988, Richardson et al. 1989, Springer et al. 1991, Trucker et al. 1986, Verduyn et al. 1992, Zappala & Cameron 1990). A number of different terms have been used to describe various aspects of this polysymptomatic clinical presentation: complex partial seizures (Tucker et al. 1986), subclinical seizures (Sperling & O'Connor 1990), atypical psychosis (Neppe 1991), episodic dyscontrol (Monroe 1970), post-traumatic temporal lobe dysfunction (Zappala & Cameron 1990), multiple partial seizure-like symptoms without stereotyped spells (Verduyn et al. 1992), temporal lobe syndrome (Blumer et al. 1988), subictal neurosis (Jonas 1965), a subtype of treatment-resistant affective disorder (Hayes & Goldsmith 1991, Varney et al. 1993), or temporolimbic instability. For the purpose of this review, the term epilepsy spectrum disorder (ESD), recently proposed (Roberts et al. 1992) will be used to describe these patients who experience multiple episodic or partial seizure-like symptoms.

Next: Seizure, cont.

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subtlebraininjury.com is a website with a mission to educate with respect to the magnitude of brain injury which does not involve coma - injuries that have been labeled by names which grossly minimize their potential impact upon the life of the injured person. This site is brought to you by the advocates of the Brain Injury Law Group, a community of plaintiff's trial lawyers across the United States united by a common interest in serving the rights of persons with traumatic brain injuries and a common commitment to fully understanding the anatomic, medical and psychological aspects of TBI.

Additional Information

For a full treatment of the topic of brain injury, and recovering adequate compensation for those who have survived such injury, please visit our other pages. tbilaw.com A general treatment of all types of brain injury, including severe brain injury and concussion, with a special focus on the legal aspects of recovering full and adequate compensation for such injuries. tbilaw.com has been at the cornerstone of the web advocacy of the Brain Injury Law Group since it went online in 1996. waiting.com A page designed to assist those with issues regarding coma, especially in the acute phase when the doctors are saying "I just don't know." vestibulardisorder.com Addressing vertigo and dizziness resulting from trauma as well as information and resources for vestibular disorders.

Sensory Brain

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