title: Early seizures: causal events or predisposition to adult epilepsy?
abstract: Past studies have been unable to confirm whether early seizures predispose to epilepsy in adults. Seizures in infancy were classically thought to cause brain lesions that led to epilepsy in adulthood. However, these infants were not thought to have epilepsy, but acute events that included seizures. Accumulating evidence suggests that early seizures may be associated with, or cause, brain damage; or alternatively, they may be the first expression of a genetic or lesional predisposition to epilepsy. The course of early seizures ranges from transient to life-long, depending on epilepsy syndrome, causes, and treatment. The main factors that determine late or persisting epilepsy after the occurrence of early seizures are protracted seizures, tonic seizures, and involvement of mesial temporal structures. A developmental approach to seizure disorders will aid understanding of epilepsy in adults and improve the design of antiepileptic agents for children and adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropaediatrics, APHP, Centre de Référence Epilepsies Rares, Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dulac
authors.forename: Rima
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nabbout
authors.forename: Perrine
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Plouin
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chiron
authors.forename: Ingrid E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Scheffer
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications; D015984:Causality; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology*