Epileptic seizure in the elderly: a retrospective analysis of 72 cases / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To retrospectively study the clinical features in elderly patients with epilepsy.Methods Clinical data of 72 elderly patients with epilepsy aged over 60 years from outpatients and inpatients were studied.Results In the 72 cases,cerebrovascular disease associated with epilepsy occurred in 52 cases (72.2％),with partial seizures in 50 cases (69.4％),and with generalized seizures in 22 cases (30.6％).In 38 cases with epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction,the cerebral cortex infarction occurred in 26 cases (68.4％).In 14 cases with epilepsy secondary to cerebral hemorrhage,cerebral cortex hemorrhage occurred in 11 cases (78.6％).In interictal electroencephalogram (EEG) of the 72 cases,8 cases had normal EEG (11.1％),64 cases had abnormal EEG (88.8％).31 cases (48.4％) presented with sharp wave,spikes wave or tip--slow composite wave,33 cases (51.6％) presented with low amplitude of slow wave activity,which were non-specific abnormalities.Conclusions The main cause of seizures in the elderly is cerebrovascular disease.Partial seizures is the main type of seizure.Most of seizures caused by cerebrovascular disease occur in the region near the cortex.