RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The epilepsies are one of the main reasons for consultation and hospital admission in neurology. They may be caused by multiple factors. OBJECTIVES: To determine the types of epilepsy, their aetiology and the value of a clinical history in diagnosis of their cause. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied 96 epileptic patients aged over 15 years in the epilepsy clinic of the Hospital Dr. Carlos J. Finlay in La Habana, Cuba. On a questionnaire we recorded: family history, pre-, peri- and postnatal histories, clinical features of the crises and physical exploration. All had inter-ictal electroencephalograms, 62 had cranial CTs, 36 had MR studies and 8 had both types of imaging studies. We excluded acute metabolic disorders and cerebral tumours. RESULTS: There was a predominance of persons aged between 26 and 35 (78%) and 59.37% were men. Symptomatic epilepsy was seen in 51.4%, in 38.54% this was cryptogenic and in 10.41% idiopathic. Perinatal damage was present in 20.8%, head injury in 11.4%, febrile convulsion in 10.4%, meningoencephalitis in 8.3% and cardiovascular disease in 4.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The international classification of epilepsy permits our patients to be divided into groups. In most of them aetiological factors were detected after an interview and medical exploration.
