What is epilepsy

Epilepsy is a very common disease. Such a disease is very harmful to human health, especially since the cause of epilepsy has not been clearly identified. Therefore, drug treatment, surgical treatment, and psychological treatment are the best options for the treatment of such a disease. In the treatment of epilepsy, the treatment method cannot be chosen arbitrarily. It must be selected according to the patient's disease condition. So what is epilepsy?

What is epilepsy? Many people are not clear about this question. Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease that is very harmful to the human body in all aspects, especially to the patient's intelligence and memory.

What is epilepsy:

Epilepsy, commonly known as "epilepsy" or "epilepsy", is a chronic disease in which brain neurons suddenly discharge abnormally, leading to temporary brain dysfunction. According to the latest epidemiological data in China, the overall prevalence of epilepsy in the country is 7.0‰, the annual incidence is 28.8/100,000, and the prevalence of active epilepsy with attacks within one year is 4.6‰. Based on this estimate, there are approximately 9 million epilepsy patients in China, of which 5 to 6 million are active epilepsy patients. At the same time, there are approximately 400,000 new epilepsy patients each year. In China, epilepsy has become the second most common disease in neurology after headache.

Causes

The causes of epilepsy are complex and diverse, including genetic factors, brain diseases, and systemic or systemic diseases.

Genetic factors

Genetic factors are an important cause of epilepsy, especially idiopathic epilepsy. Molecular genetic studies have found that the molecular mechanism of some genetic epilepsy is structural or functional changes in ion channels or related molecules.

Brain disorders

Congenital brain developmental abnormalities: cerebral gray matter heterotopia, brain perforation malformation, tuberous sclerosis, cerebrofacial angiomatosis, etc.

Brain tumors: primary or metastatic

Intracranial infection: various encephalitis, meningitis, brain abscess, cerebral cysticercosis, cerebral toxoplasmosis, etc.

Craniocerebral trauma: birth injury, intracranial hematoma, cerebral contusion and various combined craniocerebral injuries, etc.

Cerebrovascular disease: cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, cerebral aneurysm, cerebral arteriovenous malformation, etc.

Degenerative diseases: Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Pick's disease, etc.

Systemic or systemic disease

Hypoxia: suffocation, carbon monoxide poisoning, after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, etc.;

Metabolic diseases: hypoglycemia, hypocalcemia, phenylketonuria, uremia, etc.;

Endocrine diseases: hypoparathyroidism, insulinoma, etc.;

Cardiovascular diseases: Adams-Stokes syndrome, hypertensive encephalopathy, etc.;

Toxic diseases: organophosphorus poisoning, certain heavy metal poisoning, etc.;

Others: such as blood system diseases, rheumatic diseases, eclampsia, etc.

Through the above introduction, we have a good understanding of what epilepsy is. This disease can be discovered in time after it occurs. This is because this type of disease is very easy to occur. It is mainly characterized by convulsions of the limbs and foaming at the mouth. When such a situation occurs, the patient needs to be sent to the hospital for treatment in time to stabilize the patient's condition.