What is childhood epilepsy?

Written by Yan Xin Liang
Pediatrics
Updated on September 04, 2024
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Epilepsy is a persistent brain disease characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures, abnormal perceptions, and associated neurological, cognitive, psychological, and social issues. An epileptic seizure refers to sudden, brief symptoms and signs caused by excessive and abnormal discharges of brain neurons. Depending on the affected brain functional areas, clinical manifestations can vary, including disturbances in consciousness, motor functions, sensory abnormalities, as well as psychiatric and autonomic nervous system dysfunctions. It is important to note that epileptic seizures and epilepsy are two distinct concepts.

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Written by Tang Bo
Neurology
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Is epilepsy easy to treat?

Epilepsy is a disease for which the cause can be identified in some patients, while in others it may remain unknown. Initially, it is important to investigate the cause of epilepsy. Moreover, if an individual experiences multiple seizures, medication intervention becomes necessary. The primary goal of drug treatment for epilepsy is to control it and prevent further seizures, since each seizure can cause brain cell damage, potentially leading to long-term effects like memory decline and slower reaction times. Therefore, active control of epilepsy through medication is crucial. Whether epilepsy can be completely cured depends on its underlying cause. In some cases, identifying and eliminating the cause may prevent further seizures. However, for some patients, even if the cause is identified, such as a past stroke or tumors that induce epilepsy, seizures may continue even after the tumor is removed. Meanwhile, for epilepsy of unknown origins, the approach is to control the condition using medication to minimize the occurrence of seizures as much as possible, though it is not guaranteed that seizures will not happen again in the future.

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Written by Liu Shi Xiang
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What can severe epilepsy lead to?

Severe epilepsy can cause many complications, such as cerebral edema, brain herniation, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, etc. Therefore, severe epilepsy can seriously threaten the patient's life. If the patient's epilepsy is not controlled in time, it can easily lead to a state of status epilepticus. Status epilepticus is a very dangerous central nervous system disease. Patients may experience sudden respiratory and circulatory arrest and uncontrollable massive gastrointestinal bleeding. For severe epilepsy patients, it is necessary to promptly administer medications such as diazepam and sodium valproate to terminate the seizures. If status epilepticus occurs, the patient needs to be urgently sent to the ICU for observation and treatment, and effective interventions for various complications must be provided. For example, in the case of cerebral edema caused by epilepsy, medications such as mannitol and glycerol fructose are needed to dehydrate and reduce intracranial pressure. If epilepsy causes acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding, treatments to suppress acid, stop bleeding, and maintain blood pressure are required.

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Written by Li Jiao Yan
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What are the early symptoms of epilepsy in children?

Epilepsy is a particularly common chronic disease in life. If the brain is underdeveloped and there are neurological disorders, it can cause epilepsy. What are the early symptoms of childhood epilepsy? The manifestations of a child's epileptic seizure are diverse, but all have the characteristics of sudden onset, sudden cessation, and periodic attacks. Common types in children include major seizures, absence minor seizures, and benign childhood epilepsy. During a major seizure, the child suddenly loses consciousness, breathing stops, the complexion turns cyanotic, the pupils dilate, the limbs stiffen, and the hands clench into fists, then switching to paroxysmal convulsions, foaming at the mouth, with the attack generally lasting 1-5 minutes. Children with absence seizures appear to suddenly lose consciousness, stop their activities, and stare upward or roll their eyes, but they do not fall down or convulse, lasting 1-10 seconds, with consciousness quickly recovering after the attack. Benign childhood epilepsy seizures often involve twitching of one side of the face, lips, and tongue, possibly accompanied by abnormal sensations in those areas, inability to speak, and drooling, typically with clear consciousness, and more frequently occurring at night.

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Written by Yan Xin Liang
Pediatrics
41sec home-news-image

What is childhood epilepsy?

Epilepsy is a persistent brain disease characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures, abnormal perceptions, and associated neurological, cognitive, psychological, and social issues. An epileptic seizure refers to sudden, brief symptoms and signs caused by excessive and abnormal discharges of brain neurons. Depending on the affected brain functional areas, clinical manifestations can vary, including disturbances in consciousness, motor functions, sensory abnormalities, as well as psychiatric and autonomic nervous system dysfunctions. It is important to note that epileptic seizures and epilepsy are two distinct concepts.

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Written by Tang Bo
Neurology
52sec home-news-image

How is epilepsy treated?

Epilepsy treatment can be divided into the following aspects: First is etiological treatment. If epilepsy is caused by tumors or cerebrovascular diseases, surgical removal of the lesion can relieve epilepsy, but seizures often still occur, so medication must not be stopped. Secondly, pharmacological treatment is necessary for epilepsy induced by unclear causes or genetic metabolic diseases. Treatment involves taking and adjusting medications under medical guidance, based on different types of seizures and individual patient circumstances. Additionally, for some cases where the cause cannot be clearly identified and no epileptic foci are found, functional surgery can be performed for treatment.