Epilepsy

Clinical Features

Epilepsy is diagnosed clinically. Without seeing or hearing a description of epilepsy, a diagnosis cannot be made. As such, the classification of epilepsy is incredibly detailed which is why is warrants a big title:

Classification

The first division to make is into partial and generalised which describe the area of the brain affected. The definitions are:

• Partial seizures involve a localised area of the brain
• Generalised seizures involve the whole brain

Let's deal with partial seizures first.

Partial Seizures

Partial seizures can be further divided into simple and complex which describe the effect on consciousness. The definitions are:

• Simple partial seizures do NOT cause a loss of consciousness
• Complex partial seizures DO cause a loss of consciousness