- Preface to the twelfth edition
- Preface to the eleventh edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Contributors
- Glossary
- Section 1 Introduction
- Chapter 1 A short history of clinical neurology
- Chapter 2 The clinical approach
- Chapter 3 Investigations
- Chapter 4 Psychologically determined disorders
- Chapter 5 Toxic and environmental disorders
- Chapter 6 Principles of neurological rehabilitation
- Section 2 Developmental neurology
- Chapter 7 Clinical approach to developmental neurology
- Chapter 8 Development, degeneration, and regeneration of the central nervous system
- Chapter 9 Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Chapter 10 Neurometabolic disorders
- Chapter 11 Neurocutaneous syndromes
- Section 3 Disorders of special senses
- Chapter 12 Abnormal vision
- Chapter 13 Ocular motor disorders
- Chapter 14 Disorders of hearing
- Chapter 15 Vertigo and imbalance
- Chapter 16 Abnormalities of smell and taste
- Section 4 Pain
- Chapter 17 Neuropathic pain
- Chapter 18 Headache
- Chapter 19 Craniofacial pain
- Section 5 Nerve and muscle disease
- Chapter 20 The lower cranial nerves and dysphagia
- Chapter 21 Polyneuropathy
- Chapter 22 Focal peripheral neuropathy
- Chapter 23 The motor neurone disorders
- Chapter 24 Muscle diseases
- Section 6 Structural disease affecting brain, spinal cord, and nerve roots
- Chapter 25 Head injury
- Chapter 26 Raised intracranial pressure, cerebral oedema, and hydrocephalus
- Chapter 27 Tumours of the brain and skull
- Chapter 28 Spinal cord disorders
- Chapter 29 Cauda equina lesions, radiculopathies, and sphincter disorders
- Section 7 Seizures and alterations of consciousness and thought
- Chapter 30 Seizures and related disorders in children
- Chapter 31 Seizures, epilepsy, and other episodic disorders in adults
- Chapter 32 Sleep disorders
- Chapter 33 Coma
- Chapter 34 Neuropsychological disorders, dementia, and behavioural neurology
- Section 8 Vascular, demyelinating, inflammatory and degenerative disorders of the central nervous system
- Chapter 35 Cerebrovascular diseases
- Chapter 36 Vasculitis and collagen vascular diseases
- Chapter 37 Multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases
- Chapter 38 Paraneoplastic disorders and neuroimmunology
- Chapter 39 Tremor, ataxia, and cerebellar disorders
- Chapter 40 Movement disorders
- Section 9 Neurological infection
- Chapter 41 Meningitis
- Chapter 42 Encephalitis and infectious encephalopathies
- Chapter 43 Intracranial space occupying infections and neurological HIV disease
- Index
(p. 891) Seizures, epilepsy, and other episodic disorders in adults
- Chapter:
- (p. 891) Seizures, epilepsy, and other episodic disorders in adults
- Author(s):
David Chadwick
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780198569381.003.0709
Epilepsy, or more correctly a seizure, is most easily defined in physiological terms, being ‘the name for occasional sudden, excessive, rapid, and local discharges of grey matter’ (Jackson 1873). It is more difficult to offer a comprehensive clinical definition of epileptic seizures and epilepsy because of the varied clinical manifestations produced by cerebral neuronal discharge. However, an epileptic seizure can be defined as an intermittent and stereotyped disturbance of consciousness, behaviour, emotion, motor function, or sensation that on clinical grounds is believed to result from cortical neuronal discharge. Epilepsy can then be defined as a condition in which seizures recur, usually spontaneously. The differential diagnosis of epilepsy is large because of the enormous range of symptoms that can occur during seizures. Inevitably, the differential diagnosis for tonic-clonic seizures is very different from that for simple partial seizures with autonomic symptoms. The most common clinical problem is the differential diagnosis from other causes of transient loss of consciousness associated with collapse, the commonest cause of which is syncope.
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- Preface to the twelfth edition
- Preface to the eleventh edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Contributors
- Glossary
- Section 1 Introduction
- Chapter 1 A short history of clinical neurology
- Chapter 2 The clinical approach
- Chapter 3 Investigations
- Chapter 4 Psychologically determined disorders
- Chapter 5 Toxic and environmental disorders
- Chapter 6 Principles of neurological rehabilitation
- Section 2 Developmental neurology
- Chapter 7 Clinical approach to developmental neurology
- Chapter 8 Development, degeneration, and regeneration of the central nervous system
- Chapter 9 Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Chapter 10 Neurometabolic disorders
- Chapter 11 Neurocutaneous syndromes
- Section 3 Disorders of special senses
- Chapter 12 Abnormal vision
- Chapter 13 Ocular motor disorders
- Chapter 14 Disorders of hearing
- Chapter 15 Vertigo and imbalance
- Chapter 16 Abnormalities of smell and taste
- Section 4 Pain
- Chapter 17 Neuropathic pain
- Chapter 18 Headache
- Chapter 19 Craniofacial pain
- Section 5 Nerve and muscle disease
- Chapter 20 The lower cranial nerves and dysphagia
- Chapter 21 Polyneuropathy
- Chapter 22 Focal peripheral neuropathy
- Chapter 23 The motor neurone disorders
- Chapter 24 Muscle diseases
- Section 6 Structural disease affecting brain, spinal cord, and nerve roots
- Chapter 25 Head injury
- Chapter 26 Raised intracranial pressure, cerebral oedema, and hydrocephalus
- Chapter 27 Tumours of the brain and skull
- Chapter 28 Spinal cord disorders
- Chapter 29 Cauda equina lesions, radiculopathies, and sphincter disorders
- Section 7 Seizures and alterations of consciousness and thought
- Chapter 30 Seizures and related disorders in children
- Chapter 31 Seizures, epilepsy, and other episodic disorders in adults
- Chapter 32 Sleep disorders
- Chapter 33 Coma
- Chapter 34 Neuropsychological disorders, dementia, and behavioural neurology
- Section 8 Vascular, demyelinating, inflammatory and degenerative disorders of the central nervous system
- Chapter 35 Cerebrovascular diseases
- Chapter 36 Vasculitis and collagen vascular diseases
- Chapter 37 Multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases
- Chapter 38 Paraneoplastic disorders and neuroimmunology
- Chapter 39 Tremor, ataxia, and cerebellar disorders
- Chapter 40 Movement disorders
- Section 9 Neurological infection
- Chapter 41 Meningitis
- Chapter 42 Encephalitis and infectious encephalopathies
- Chapter 43 Intracranial space occupying infections and neurological HIV disease
- Index