Symptomatic Epilepsies due to Cerebrovascular Diseases

Introduction: Cerebro-vascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of symptomatic epilepsies. This study aims to investigate: a) Frequency of epilepsy in patients with CVD; b) Correlation of epilepsy with the type of CVD (ischemic and hemorrhage) and with age. Methodology: It is analyzed medical documentation of 816 hospitalized patients with CVD in the clinic of Neurology in University Clinical Center (UCC) during the period January - December 2010. The study included data on patients presenting with epileptic seizures after CVD, and those with previously diagnosed epilepsy, are not included in the study. The diagnosis of CVD, are established in clinical neurological examination and the brain imaging (computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging). The diagnosis of epilepsy is established by the criteria of ILAE (International League against Epilepsy) 1983, and epileptic seizures are classified according to the ILAE classification, of 1981. Results: Out of 816 patients with CVD, 692 were with ischemic stroke and 124 with hemorrhage. From 816 patients, epileptic seizures had 81 (10%), of which 9 patients had been diagnosed with epilepsy earlier and they are not included in the study. From 72 (99%) patients with seizures after CVD 25 (33%) have been with ischemia, whereas 47 (67%) with hemorrhage. Conclusion: CVD present fairly frequent cause of symptomatic epilepsies among patients treated in the clinic of Neurology at UCC (about 10%). The biggest number of patients with epilepsy after CVD was with intracerebral hemorrhage.