[Reflections on classification of epileptic seizures]

The use of a universal classification, generally agreed and accepted, is an essential step in medicine for the understanding, correct diagnosis and satisfactory treatment of diseases.

We review and comment on the various proposed classifications of epileptic seizures, from that of Gastaut in 1970, which related the clinical findings to the electroencephalogram (EEG) of epileptic seizures, to the current classification described by the executive committee of the ILAE (International League Against Epilepsy) in 1997.

The first classification was described by Gastaut and improved in the first international classification agreed on by the ILAE in 1981. Subsequently, the international classification of the ILAE in 1989 paid special attention to the differentiation of the different types of epilepsy and epileptic syndromes as such, with less emphasis on the correlation of seizures with the EEG. The current classification proposed by the ILAE considers epileptic seizures as just a list of types of seizures, although in greater detail. Concerning definition of the seizures, it does not establish their correlation with clinical investigations that permit greater objectivity (EEG, neuro imaging.).