SENSORIMOTOR NEUROLOGY

Abstract

INVESTIGATION seems to show that epilepsy does not predispose to chronic pulmonary tuberculosis, or vice versa. In a series of 100 cases of epilepsy with such intercurrent tubercle in its active stages the frequency of seizures was markedly decreased in the majority of cases, with a demonstrable loss of weight. A review of the literature reveals that there is a reduced metabolic rate in epilepsy and a definitely increased rate in pulmonary tubercle, that convulsions are often absent in diseases with a high blood sugar such as diabetes and cancer, and that hyperglycaemia tends to occur in the tuberculous individual; that a normal blood-serum calcium is usual in epilepsy and that it is often found to be elevated in pulmonary tubercle, that a reduction in the sodium chloride of the blood of epileptics often reduces the frequency of convulsions, and that a constantly low blood chloride is often observed in patients with active pulmonary tubercle; that comparisons of the blood pictures in epilepsy and in pulmonary tubercle show the occurrence of hypocholesteemia and an increased rate of sedimentation of the blood in both conditions; that the pH values of the blood seem to indicate a tendency in the epileptic to approach a more alkaline reaction, and in the tuberculous patient a more acid reaction. From the above data suggestions are made as to the mechanism involved in active chronic pulmonary tuberculosis in raising the convulsion threshold in pre-existing epilepsy so that the frequency of seizures is noticeably reduced. C. S. R.