Chapters authored
Acute Diarrhea as a Manifestation of Abdominal Epilepsy
Medical doctors are very frequently confronted with gastrointestinal complaints in daily clinical practice. Most of them are ascribed to gastrointestinal disease in general. There exist, however, cases who complain with abdominal signs and symptoms whose causes are unable to be found, in spite of various examinations related to the abdomen. Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the central nervous system manifesting with recurrent unprovoked seizures. Abnormal abdominal sensation often heralds the onset of epileptic seizures. Among them, there is a rare syndrome called abdominal epilepsy in which episodic gastrointestinal complaints like abdominal pain, abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomit, and diarrhea are the primary or the sole manifestation of epileptic seizures. It is important for clinicians to know that abdominal epilepsy is one of the differential diagnoses of acute gastrointestinal signs and that these symptoms can be treated with antiepileptic medications. Here we review abdominal epilepsy as one of the causes in acute diarrhea.
Part of the book: Perspective of Recent Advances in Acute Diarrhea
Cerebrovascular Disease; A Leading Cause of Epilepsy
Various types of cerebrovascular diseases can result in epilepsy in any age, especially in the elderly. Besides well-known cause of epilepsy as large cerebral infarction involving cerebral cortex and intracerebral hemorrhage, there are growing evidences of roles of subcortical infarction, chronic subdural hematoma, and superficial siderosis of the central nervous system in the pathogenesis of epilepsy. We review here the epidemiology and possible predictors of epilepsy in each type of cerebrovascular lesions and summarize the characteristics of semiology and electroencephalography findings in order to take early treatment strategy. Additionally, relevance of acute-symptomatic seizures and status epilepticus to epilepsy is discussed.
Part of the book: Epilepsy