EPILEPSIA (Clasificación, Síntomas y Diagnóstico)

Summary

Dr. Sanagustín discusses clinical classification and diagnosis of epilepsy in this video. Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures due to excessive neuronal discharges. The video explains two main types: focal (affecting one brain area) and generalized (affecting both brain hemispheres) seizures. It also covers different seizure manifestations, such as motor, sensory, autonomic, and psychic symptoms. The doctor highlights the importance of clinical history and diagnostic tests like EEG, imaging, and in some cases, lumbar puncture.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures due to excessive, paroxysmal discharges from groups of brain neurons.
• 🌟 The term 'epileptic seizures' is often used interchangeably with 'convulsions', but they can also be sensory, autonomic, or psychic, with or without a change in consciousness.
• 🔍 There are two main types of epileptic seizures: Focal (partial) and Generalized, with focal seizures affecting a specific area of the brain and generalized seizures affecting both hemispheres.
• 👥 Focal seizures can be simple (without consciousness impairment) or complex (with consciousness impairment), and symptoms vary depending on the brain area involved.
• 🤔 Automatisms, such as facial expression changes, lip smacking, swallowing, and repetitive hand movements, can occur during focal seizures.
• 💪 Generalized seizures involve both cerebral hemispheres and typically result in a loss of consciousness from the start.
• 🔑 There are three main types of generalized seizures: Convulsive, Atonic (absence), and Non-convulsive (absences).
• 🏃‍♂️ Tonic-clonic seizures are the most common, starting with a tonic phase followed by a clonic phase of violent muscle contractions.
• 🤕 Post-seizure symptoms can include confusion, drowsiness, amnesia, and generalized muscle pain, which may last for hours.
• 🚑 Status epilepticus, or continuous seizures lasting 30 minutes or more without recovery between them, is a medical emergency and can be convulsive or non-convulsive.
• 🩺 The diagnosis of epilepsy is clinical, based on history, witness accounts, physical examination, and complementary tests like EEG, imaging studies, and sometimes lumbar puncture.