Epileptic seizures as a symptom of various neurological diseases

The authors evaluate the most frequent causes of seizures in 562 patients admitted at the emergency out-patient ward because of fits. 194 patients were admitted because of the first occurrence of seizures, in 12 of them the first manifestation was status epilepticus of the generalized (8), or focal type (4). The commonest causes of seizures were alcoholism (82), disturbances of the brain blood flow (74), posttraumatic states (20), brain tumor (4), or encephalopathies. In 11 patients the cause of seizures was not found. Besides the causes, the authors stressed the most frequent type of seizures, as well as therapeutic measures. They pointed out that in alcoholism generalized seizures, and grand mal status were the commonest expression of seizures. The same was found in patients with posttraumatic seizures, but they mostly suffered single attacks, and the same in encephalopathies. In patients with vascular lesions focal seizures were not rare. The antiepileptic therapy is not applied in the first occurrence of convulsions, therapy is causal, linked primarily to basic etiopathogenic mechanism responsible for triggering seizures.