General Principles of Medical Treatment

Abstract

Seizures are paroxysmal neurological events that are encountered by all medical specialties. Seizures are common, with 1 in 10 people experiencing a seizure at some point in their life. Furthermore, recurring unprovoked seizures are the hallmark of the condition of epilepsy, which encompasses a spectrum of syndromes that can occur across the lifespan. Although individual seizures may be brief occurrences, they are disruptive to an individual's activities of daily living (ADLs), increase the risk of physical injury, and adversely impact the mental well-being of those who experience them. Thus, in order to provide the best management, it falls into a clinician's domain to be informed of the types of seizures along with possible provoking factors and risks of recurrence, and when to make a diagnosis of epilepsy. Attention will be given to treatment of epilepsy with medications, characteristics that may impact management, and situations that require advanced specialty care.

Keywords

seizure - epilepsy - seizure classification - epilepsy management - antiseizure medications

Note

J.L.Y. reports serving as Sub-Investigator on the Xenon trial (since March 2023). M.K.B.-O. reports serving as Principal Investigator on the following trials: Xenon (since March 2023), UCB (since November 2023), and NeuroPace (since June 2019). She also holds professional/non-financial roles with ACNS (Council member since October 2017) and EFKY (Board of Directors since July 2015).

Authors' Contributions

J.L.C., and J.L.Y. contributed to the manuscript writing and literature review. M.K.B.-O. was involved in the review and editing of the manuscript.

Publication History

Article published online:
28 April 2025

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