Guía clínica. Definición y clasificación de la epilepsia

Abstract

The current definition of epilepsy proposes three possibilities in which to consider this diagnosis, the first when a patient has two or more unprovoked or reflex seizures separated in 24 h, the second, an unprovoked or reflected seizure with a proba-bility of continuing to present seizures of at least 60%, and the third, the presence of an epileptic syndrome. The classification of the type of seizure divides them into three possibilities depending on how they begin: those of focal, generalized and unknown initiation. Focal seizures can be subclassified in those that have loss or not consciousness, and then categorized depending on whether the symptoms are motor or non-motor, and give a descriptor of the event, which is nothing else but the description of symptoms and signs that presents the patient in the seizure. The classification of the type of epilepsy proposes three diagnostic levels: the first related to the type of seizure, the second to the type of epilepsy and the third to the type of epileptic syndrome, without forgetting the etiology and comorbidity. These concepts are basic in the approach of any patient who presents epilepsy.