[Etiological spectrum of symptomatic epilepsy in adults]

The purpose of this study was to establish the frequency of incidence of epileptic seizures among adult patients of the Neurological Department. The second aim was to establish the causes of the symptomatic epilepsy. The material comprised of 205 patients, who were hospitalized because of first epileptic seizures. The etiology of epilepsy was based on history, neurological findings and diagnostic investigations. Only the patients over 20 years old were included in the study. The analysed group of 205 cases was 6.6% of all hospitalized patients during a period 5 years. The average age of these patients was 57.5; 58%--were male, 42%--female. Vascular lesions of the brain were the most frequent cause of epilepsy (46.4%); alcohol abuse--13.6%, brain tumor--10.2%, head trauma--8.8%, alcohol and head trauma--6.3%. Inflammation, degeneration and metabolic processes were very rare. In 8.8% of cases with late epilepsy, the etiology of disease remained unknown. In the group with vascular lesions of the brain, ischaemic stroke was the most frequent (62.8%). Among the patients with ischaemic stroke females prevailed. Alcohol-associated seizures were disorders very often among males. The literature analysis and our own notices showed that the frequency of symptomatic epilepsy in the elderly population increased. The connection between this observations and the higher average survival and the frequency of vascular diseases of the brain, is possible. The etiology of epilepsy in very elderly people is not clear and probably is associated with several factors. This group of patients comprised 25.5% of all our material.