Post Stroke Seizures Impact on the Course and the Final Outcome of Cerebrovascular Events
[1]
Silvana Mijo, Service of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania.
[2]
Serla Grabova, Service of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania.
[3]
Eris Ranxha, Service of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania.
[4]
Gentian Vyshka, Biomedical and Experimental Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania.
[5]
Jera Kruja, Service of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania.
Approximately 2% of the patients suffering an acute cerebrovascular event will present with a seizure, mostly of a grand-mal type. Seizures might be present in the acute phase of a stroke, but can as well complicate the long-term course of stroke, in a chronic form. Epileptic fits might quite well have other etiologies (alcoholism, glycemic and electrolyte disorders), thus not necessarily related with the brain ischemia or hemorrhage as the background disorder. Most of the authors define early seizures as occurring within 7-30 days after stroke onset; seizures presenting thereafter are considered as late seizures. Controversial opinions are formulated with regard to the necessity and time length of treatment for early seizures, generally single episodes will be left untreated. On the other hand, authors converge upon the necessity of treating late seizures in the post-stroke setting. Traditional and newly marketed antiepileptics have all of those been tested in different studies; new generation drugs seem advantageous due to their better adverse effect profile and lesser drug interactions.
Seizures, Ischemic Stroke, Hemorrhagic Stroke, Post Stroke Seizures, Prognosis, Disability
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