Approximately 10% of the population will experience a seizure during their lifetime,
whereas only 2% to 3% will develop epilepsy.
1
,2
Determining whether a first seizure or recurrent seizures are provoked or unprovoked
is fundamentally essential for diagnosis and treatment. Patients with provoked seizures,
also known as acute symptomatic seizures (eg, electrolyte disorders, toxins, head
injury, or infectious processes) do not require long-term antiseizure medication (ASM)
therapy.
3
,
4
,
5
Certainly, a seizure provoked by a reversible insult does not fall under the definition
of epilepsy. On the other hand, patients with two unprovoked seizures are routinely
treated with ASM, given the high risk for recurrent seizures (epilepsy), up to 57%
by 1 year and 73% by 4 years.
6
Abbreviations and Acronyms:
AAN (American Academy of Neurology), ASM (antiseizure medication), EEG (electroencephalogram), ES (epileptic seizure), ILAE (International League Against Epilepsy), PNES (psychogenic nonepileptic seizures), pPNES (prolonged psychogenic nonepileptic seizures), RCT (randomized controlled trial)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Published online: December 02, 2022
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