Abstract

PEREZ SALAZAR, Ángela Beatriz  and  HERNANDEZ LOPEZ, Dora Lillia. Epilepsy: Basic Aspects for the Practice of Psychiatry. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2007, vol.36, suppl.1, pp.175-186. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction: Epilepsy is the third most frequent neurological disease. The diagnosis of epilepsy is clinical and it is based on the descriptions made by the patients and relatives. Other strategies, like EEG and neuroimaging, are used to assess a possible etiology, prognosis and can infl uence the decision between medical or surgical treatment. The International League against Epilepsy has recently proposed a modifi ed classifi cation that takes into account factors like the physiopathology of seizures, neural substrate and response to treatment, among others. Objective: This article is meant to serve as a general update for psychiatrists and deals with clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic issues in epilepsy. Method: It shows how the selection of treatment is infl uenced by age, type of seizures, previous use and response to anticonvulsants. Conclusion: Pharmacological treatment is the main intervention and anticonvulsant monotherapy improves patients in 60% to 80% of cases.

Keywords : Epilepsy; seizures; anticonvulsants.

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