Epilepsy Glossary
This glossary has been developed by the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. It provides you with some words you may hear during your child's evaluation and treatment.
A | C l D l E l G l I l M l P l S l T l V
A
- Absence Seizures
- Absence seizures (previously called petit mal seizures) are frequent, brief events (5-30 seconds) with abrupt onset, impairment of consciousness, and staring followed by an abrupt return to baseline function. If a person is speaking when the absence seizure occurs, he or she will stop talking, stare and when the brief seizure is over, resume the sentence as if nothing had occurred. In fact the person usually does not even recognize that a seizure occurred.
- Atonic Seizures
- Seizures that involve a loss of tone in the head, upper torso or whole body. In the most severe cases, children with atonic seizures will collapse to the ground face first.
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C
- Complex Partial Seizures
- Seizures that involve an alteration in a child's level of consciousness coupled with changes in motor activity (e.g., jerking of one extremity or side of the body) and automatisms (e.g., repetitive chewing, swallowing, pick at clothes).
- Cryptogenic
- The cause is hidden or occult.
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D
- Drop Attacks
- A term used by some clinicians that lumps atonic and tonic seizures together and labels them as "drop attacks."
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E
- EEG
- An EEG or electroencephalogram is a recording of the electrical activity of the brain.
- EEG/Video Monitoring
- Simultaneous EEG and video recording between and during seizures. It can be prolonged monitoring lasting from hours to days.
- Epilepsy
- A disease characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures. Epilepsy currently afflicts an estimated 40 million people worldwide and approximately 2.3 million in the United States alone.
- Epileptic Seizure
- An abnormal, excessive, sudden discharge of the neurons in the brain. In essence, a seizure is like experiencing an "electrical storm of the brain."
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G
- Generalized Onset Seizures
- Discharges that begin in one part of the brain then travel throughout the brain.
- Grand Mal Seizures
- See Tonic-Clonic Seizures.
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I
- Idiopathic
- No underlying cause other than a possible inherited predisposition.
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M
- Myoclonic Seizures
- Myoclonic seizures are usually bilateral (predominantly in the arms), irregular, arrhythmic, and can occur singularly or repetitively. These jerks may be so intense that some patients fall. The seizures usually occur shortly after awakening and can interfere with dressing, combing hair, brushing teeth and activities in the kitchen (e.g., dropping plates and glasses). Myoclonic seizures are often brought on by sleep deprivation, stress, alcohol or menstruation.
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P
- Partial Onset Seizures
- Discharges in small parts of the brain.
- Petit Mal Seizures
- See Absence Seizures.
- Postictal Period
- The time following a seizure, where the child will be very tired and usually sleeps. Recovery back to baseline following a seizure can range from a few minutes to a few days.
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S
- Simple Partial Seizures
- Seizures that transiently disrupt or alter speech, motor activity, vision, smell or taste. Simple partial seizures are not associated with any alteration in a child's level of consciousness.
- Symptomatic
- Arising from a suspected or known cause.
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T
- Tonic Seizures
- Tonic seizures involve stiffening of all extremities and can also lead to falling. At times, it is hard to tell visually whether the child fell due to loss of tone (atonic seizure) or stiffening (tonic seizure). Because of this difficulty separating atonic and tonic seizures, clinicians often lump atonic and tonic seizures together and label them as "drop attacks."
- Tonic-Clonic Seizures
- Tonic-clonic seizures (previously called grand mal) begin with stiffening of all extremities (tonic phase) followed by rhythmic jerking of all extremities (clonic phase). The tonic phase usually lasts about 30 to 60 seconds, and the clonic phase one to two minutes. The overwhelming majority of tonic-clonic seizures last less than three minutes.
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V
- Video/EEG Monitoring
- Simultaneous EEG and video recording between and during seizures. It can be prolonged monitoring lasting from hours to days.
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