Epileptic seizures after ischemic stroke: study of 35 patients

Abstract

Stroke is the third main cause of death in the world and it is guessed that only 30% of the cases recover completely. Motor and language impairment are the most common sequelae and seizures occur in 6% of all strokes. Concerned about this high frequency, the author compared two groups of 35 patients, group 1: patients with seizures after cerebral infarct (CI), and group 2: patients with CI and no seizures, in order to identify predictive factors of seizures after stroke.Age, sex, arterial hypertension, diabetes, migraine, heart disease and cerebral vascular disease were not related to a higher risk of seizures after CI, as well as red blood cell count, serum glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, eletrocardiographic findings, cerebrospinal fluid analysis.Cigarette smokers and alchohol users were more frequent in group 1. Extensive infarcts were also more frequent in group 1. Most seizures were partial and took place after the acute phase of CI. Recurrency of seizures was not frequent and pharmacological control was easily obtained.